Swordsman

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The swordsmen were an Anabaptist movement in Moravia in the 16th century who advocated the use of the sword for national defense. The swordsmen stood in opposition to the group of the non-violent stabbers . Leading representatives of the swordsmen were among others Balthasar Hubmaier and Johannes Spittelmaier .

Schwertler and Stäbler were among the first groups of Anabaptists in exile in the Moravian town of Nikolsburg and were based on a conflict between Balthasar Hubmaier and Hans Hut . While Hans Hut spoke out against any form of violence and against war taxes, Balthasar Hubmaier advocated the right of the sword for self-defense and the introduction of war taxes. Hubmaier's idea was a reaction on the one hand to the threat to the still young Anabaptist communities from Habsburg troops and on the other hand to the threat from the Ottomans . The conflict between the two groups finally led to the first schism of the still young Moravian Anabaptist movement. In the spring of 1528 about 200 Stäbler left the city of Nikolsburg under the leadership of Jakob Widemann and settled a short time later in Austerlitz , where the first Anabaptist Bruderhof was established.

The Anabaptists who stayed behind in Nikolsburg were still strongly influenced by the theology of Balthasar Hubmaier in the years to come, as the Nikolsburg Anabaptists' creed of 10 June 1535, signed by the five preachers of the Nikolsburg parish churches, showed.

literature

  • Christian Hege, Christian Neff (eds.): Mennonite Lexicon , Volume II. Frankfurt am Main 1937
  • Sebastian Franck: Catalogus Haereticorum . Ingolstadt 1576

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