Swiss brothers

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Spread of the Anabaptist movement that started in Zurich during the Reformation (in green)

The term Swiss Brothers (also Swiss Anabaptists ) describes the radical Reformation Anabaptist movement of the 16th to 19th centuries that was widespread in Switzerland and parts of southwest Germany .

Surname

The origin of the name Swiss Brothers (also Swiss Anabaptists ) lies in the gathering of radically evangelical-minded people from the vicinity of Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich.

history

In 1525, Felix Manz , Konrad Grebel , Jörg Blaurock and others founded a congregation which rejected infant baptism and preached true Christianity . Today's Conference of the Mennonites of Switzerland (Old Anabaptists) grew out of this meeting . As the movement spread to other regions of Switzerland, the name Swiss Brothers or Swiss Anabaptists came up.

The Reformation Anabaptists were severely persecuted. Felix Mantz was executed in Zurich in 1527 by drowning in the Limmat . In 1585 the council of Bern issued an Anabaptist mandate that the Anabaptists a. a. punished with the usually fatal galley penalty. As the last Swiss Baptist, Hans Landis was killed for his faith in 1614 . Nevertheless, the persecution continued. In 1671, after severe persecution, around 700 people emigrated. As recently as 1714, some Anabaptists had been captured by official Anabaptist hunters, but they could be freed with the help of the rural population. After the intervention of the Dutch government, the Bern government issued the amnesty poster of 1711, which allowed the free exit from our country as well as the complete removal and taking of their goods , which was connected with the complete loss of the right of home for the emigrants . The Swiss Anabaptists were officially tolerated only with the Edict of Tolerance of November 3, 1815. Since then, Anabaptists have been able to serve as nurses instead of military service.

Because of the persecution by the authorities, many Anabaptists emigrated from Switzerland. Many of the Mennonites in neighboring France, the Palatinate, the Netherlands and North America are of Swiss descent. Many also fled to the heights of the Bernese Jura or the Emmental . Some of the Anabaptists who emigrated from Switzerland are the Amish , who split off from the Mennonites after a conflict between the groups around Jakob Ammann and Hans Reist .

Today the term Swiss Brothers is mostly only used for the Mennonites of non- Amic faith. Around 150,000 people are Swiss brothers in the broader sense of their origin.

Literary precipitation

The fate of the Swiss Anabaptists was processed literarily by Gottfried Keller in the novella Ursula . The novella was published in 1877 as part of the series of novels in Zurich . The Martyrs Mirror, first published in 1660, also reports on the ongoing persecution of the Swiss brothers .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Penner : Worldwide brotherhood. A Mennonite history book. 4th edition revised by Horst Gerlach and Horst Quiring. Mennonite History Association, Weierhof 1984, ISBN 3-921881-04-8 .
  2. ↑ ibid.

Web links

Portal: Anabaptist Movement  - Overview of Wikipedia content about the Anabaptist Movement