Low German Anabaptists

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Approximate spread of the North German-Dutch Anabaptist movement during the Reformation period (in purple)

The term Low German Anabaptists describes the radical Reformation Anabaptist movement of the 16th century that was widespread in northern Germany and the Netherlands .

history

The Anabaptist movement in the Low German-speaking area goes back to the preacher Melchior Hoffman from Schwäbisch Hall , who first met with Anabaptists in Strasbourg in 1529 and developed an apocalyptic and visionary theology. In 1530 he finally became the founder of the first North German Anabaptist community in Emden, East Frisia . Starting from Emden, the Melchiorite movement soon spread and Anabaptist communities arose in other places in north-west Germany and the Netherlands.

Especially in the Netherlands, where the Anabaptists were able to tie in with the ideas of the proto-Reformation sacramentarians , the Anabaptist movement developed a great dynamic and at times developed into a mass movement. As in other parts of the Roman-German Empire , however, extensive persecution of the fledgling Reformation movement soon began in the Netherlands. Hofman himself was arrested in Strasbourg in 1533 .

After Hofman's arrest, clearly militant tendencies developed in parts of the movement under the impression of persecution and apocalyptic ideas, which led, among other things, to the uprising in the Frisian Oldeklooster in 1535 and the events in Münster . However, many Anabaptists rejected violence and, like the brothers Obbe and Dirk Philips, took a deliberately pacifist line. The community movement of the Obbenites , named after Obbe Philips, was finally joined in 1536 by the then Catholic pastor Menno Simons .

After the failure of the militant Anabaptists of Munster, a meeting of the diverging Anabaptist groups took place in August 1536 in Bocholt, Westphalia , to find a way out of the post-Munster crisis. However, no real agreement was reached. In addition to the pacifist group around Obbe Philips and Menno Simons, there was also the more spiritualist group of David Joris named after David Joris and the militant group named after Jan van Batenburg of the Batenburg . In addition to the David Jorists , some of which continued into the 17th century, the Obbenites increasingly dominated , who were later named Mennonites after Menno Simons .

Menno Simons increasingly stabilized the movement and networked the various communities with one another. The network of the Northern European Anabaptist movement soon stretched from the Baltic to the Belgian and Rhineland regions.

Through the immigration of Dutch Anabaptists in the middle of the 16th century, Mennonite communities emerged in Lübeck and outside the imperial borders in North Frisia ( Anabaptists on Eiderstedt ) and in Danzig Werder. The emigration of North German-Dutch Anabaptists from the Danzig area to the Ukraine in the 18th century finally laid the foundation for the ethno-religious group of the Russian Mennonites.

Groupings

Within the Low German Anabaptist movement, different directions emerged from the middle of the 16th century, some of which continued to have an effect until the 19th century. In addition to the David Jorists already mentioned , some of whom continued to exist alongside the Mennonites into the 17th century, Adam Pastor and the Adamiet group named after him can also be named. Adam Pastor held a leading position within the early Mennonites but was expelled in 1552 for his anti-Trinitarian positions. However, it was primarily discussions about the ban that led to the emergence of High German, Waterland, Flemish and Frisian parties named after their origin among the Dutch-North German Anabaptists / Mennonites.

The High German communities came from southern and western Germany. Their communities were found from the Lower Rhine to Alsace. High German communities later also emerged in the Netherlands and Northern Germany. Characteristic for them was the rejection of the ban practice represented by Menno Simons, among others. There was mainly an overlap with the Swiss Anabaptists . The conferences held in Strasbourg in 1556 and 1559 can be assigned to the spectrum of High German Anabaptists.

The Party of Waterlanders, named after the Dutch region of Waterland , established itself in the late 1550s. It opened up to new developments and was partly spiritualistic . The group of the Waterlanders made up about 20% of the Dutch Anabaptists at that time. They had their center primarily in the coastal regions between Amsterdam and Alkmaar , but Waterland communities were also found outside this region. One of their well-known representatives was Hans de Ries . The Waterlanders are said to have been the first Anabaptist tendency in the Netherlands to consciously use the term Doopsgezinde (≈ Baptism-minded ).

The Frisian and Flemish groups emerged in 1566 after the persecuted Belgian / Flemish Anabaptists fled to the north of the Netherlands and were rather conservative. However, while the Frisians insisted on a strong community ban, the Flemings emphasized the autonomy of the community, which led to a split between the two groups. In addition, there were also cultural differences. So many Frisians took offense at what they saw as a worldly lifestyle of the Flemish. Leenaert Bouwens can be mentioned as a well-known representative of the Frisian party , Dirk Philips as representative of the Flemish . In 1588 there was a further split between young and old Flemings within the Flemish communities, with the young Flemings forming the liberal group that was open to the other directions.

Parties like the Frisians or Flemings were not tied exclusively to a specific region. High German, Waterland, Frisian or Flemish communities also formed outside their regions of origin and referred to the content rather than the geographical orientation of a community.

The Uko-Wallists, named after Uko Walles , later emerged from the group of Flemings . In the mid-17th century, with the emergence of the more liberal Lammists and the more conservative Sonnists in Amsterdam, a new conflict broke out. Despite these party formations, there were repeated efforts to strengthen networking and unity among the Anabaptist communities, which led to a series of joint declarations from the end of the 16th century up to the Dordrecht Confession of 1632. As early as 1600, the Bevredigde Broederschap ( Pacified Brotherhood ) was the first union of High German, Frisian and Waterland communities in the Netherlands. Other mergers followed later.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nanne van der Zijpp and Robert Dollinger: High German Mennonites . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  2. ^ Astrid von Schlachta : danger or blessing? The Anabaptists in Political Communication . Göttingen 2009, p. 60 .
  3. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Goertz : Religious movements in the early modern times . Oldenbourg Verlag, 1993, ISBN 978-3-486-55759-6 , pp. 34 .
  4. ↑ Horst Robert Balz: Mennonites . In: Theological Real Encyclopedia . tape 22 , 1992, pp. 451 .
  5. ↑ Nanne van der Zijpp: Bevredigde Broederschap . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online