Uttenreuth dreamers

The Uttenreuth dreamers , also called Franconian dreamers sect in research , were an eschatologically oriented religious community that was founded in the summer of 1530 by the Uttenreuth blacksmith Hans Schmid and only existed for a short time. Some of their followers came from the Anabaptist congregations of the Franconian region initiated by Hans Hut in 1526/27 , especially from the Uttenreuth Anabaptist congregation . The naming of this movement as "dreamers" can already be found in contemporary sources from the early summer of 1531. The Uttenreuth dreamers became known above all for their so-called "spiritual marriages", around which some rumors grew.

history

In autumn 1527 Hans Schmid believed he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit for the first time. This approximate date can be derived from a statement made by the Uttenreuth blacksmith on May 25, 1531. He was "longer than three years with in bypassed". However, the voice "disliked him that he shouldn't tell anyone until his time kumb". At that time, Hans Schmid and the other "dreamers" were still members of the Franconian Anabaptist movement. Some had still received the sign of baptism from Hans Hut . Others - and Hans Schmid was one of them - had been baptized by Georg Volk , who was traveling as an Anabaptist messenger in Uttenreuth and the surrounding area in the fall of 1527.

At Pentecost 1530, during a house service, Hans Schmid considered the period of silence prescribed for him to be over and asked those gathered to expect direct instructions from God. This date is considered to be the actual beginning of the dream community. In the later interrogations, Hans Schmid named both Pentecost and the time around August 24, 1530 ( Bartholomäi ) as the founding date of his movement. The two meetings were followed by a three-day fast. Schmid seems to have experienced a special vocation vision during Whitsun fasting. Looking back, during the later judicial investigations, he declared that Jesus Christ had appeared to him; "He saw one naked with all wounds, hanging on the cross." For three days the crucified one wiped him with a sweat. In doing so, Jesus would have said to him, "Let flesh, spirit and pain be everything, and he cannot let any devotion on his contribution [...]."

In the first meeting after Lent around Bartholomäi there were only five people who met at Schmid's. A short time later, twelve men and women mentioned by name during the embarrassing interrogation took part in the dreamer meeting to explore the will of God together. Dates and meeting points for the community were not arranged in advance. Nor did the meetings follow any particular liturgy. They only came together if the voice of God had demanded it. Nobody said anything of their own accord, unless "what in the stim [of God] have volen."

The members of the community considered each other to be equal. Only Hans Schmid claimed a certain authority as the “prophet of got”. In this function he decided on the admission of new members and was able to give a binding interpretation if no agreement was reached on the explanation of the dreams reported at the meetings.

Spread of the dreaming movement

From Uttenreuth, the dreaming movement spread mainly in Franconia. The regional focus was on the areas around Erlangen / Altenerlangen , Nuremberg , Herzogenaurach and Creglingen . The dreamers' teachings fell on fertile ground, especially with former Anabaptists. The prophetic predictions of their founder Hans Hut had not been fulfilled and their communities had been destroyed by sometimes violent persecution.

“Dreamers” seem to have appeared in Thuringia as well. The case of Kunigunde Zindeler , who was born in Staffelstein and lived in Frankenhausen , became known there. In an interrogation report states: "ir should happen to one vote, they nit should otherwise gleuben, dan this the way the live and Unless the truth is." Dreamy more known by name representative teachings on Thuringian territory are probably the from Coburg Dating Täufermärtyer Jacob Storger and Klaus Frey von Windsheim .

The information in the following table is based on Günter Bauer, Beginnings of Anabaptist Church Formations in Franconia (1966), p. 169 f, note 38.

place	Members known by name	Remarks
Alterlangen (also Altenerlangen)	Marx Meier , Michael Meier, Hans Maier	Alterlangen is a former village and today a statistical district of the city of Erlangen .
Burgstall	Christina Pertin, Katharina Pertin, Margarethe Pertin (mother of Christina and Katharina Pertin)	Burgstall is now a district of the city of Herzogenaurach .
Craintal (also Crainthal)	Anna Kern, Apollonia Kern, Elise Kern, Hans Kern, Georg Kern, Katharina Kern, Margarethe Kern (maid of Bartholomäus Kern), Margarethe Kern (daughter of Bartholomäus Kern), Margarethe Kern (wife of Bartholomäus Kern), Melchior Kern, Balthasar Freund ,? Freund (Balthasar Freund's wife), Philipp Jakob, Barbara Jakob (Philipp Jakobs wife)	Craintal is now a district of the city of Creglingen in what is now the Main-Tauber district (Baden-Württemberg).
gain	Paul Leutenbacher (Shepherd),? Menschenbacher (Paul Leutenbacher's wife), Stefan Leutenbacher (son of the Leutenbacher couple), Barbara Leutenbacher (daughter of the Leutenbacher couple)
Herzogenaurach	Cunz Zigler,? Zigler (Cunz Zigler's wife), Peter Wagner,? Wagner (Peter Wagner's wife)	Herzogenaurach is a town in what is now the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt .
Pommer	? Koch (wife of Christoph Koch),? (a shepherdess)	Pommer is a district of the market Igensdorf in today's Forchheim district .
Iphofen	Wolf N.	Iphofen is a town in what is now the district of Kitzingen .
Kalchreuth	Cunz Hafner,? Hafner (Cunz Hafner's wife), Peter?, Michel?, "Hafner's entire servants"	Kalchreuth is a municipality in what is now the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt .
People Bach	Stefan Igel, Barbara Igel (wife of Stefan Igel?)	Menschenbach is located in today's Forchheim district .
Rottenbach	? Karb (a shepherdess)	Röttenbach is a municipality in what is now the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt .
Rosenbach	Jobst Hempel (called Gostenhempel )	Rosenbach is a district of the market Flachslanden in the district of Ansbach , Middle Franconia .
Sieglitzhof	Barbara Leutenbacher, Paul Harscher,? Harscher (wife of Paul Harscher)	Sieglitzhof is now a statistical district in the north part of the city of Erlangen .
Tennenlohe	Hans Beck	Tennenlohe is now a statistical district in the southeast part of the city of Erlangen .
Uttenreuth	? Beck (wife of Georg Beck), Agnes Leitner, Jakob Leitner, Anna Schmid, Hans Schmid, Katharina Schrenz, Fritz Strigel , Margarethe Strigel	Starting point of the dreamer movement
Pond	Cunz Beck,? Beck (wife of Cunz Beck)	Weiher has been one of the two districts of Uttenreuth since 1978.
Wolfsfelden	Christina Stark, Elise Stark,? Stark (mother of Christina and Elise Stark)	Wolfsfelden was a district of Kalchreuth, which was in a clearing, the Wolfsfelder Wiese , in the Sebalder Reichswald between Kalchreuth and Neunhof (Nuremberg).

Publications (selection)

swell

Karl Schornbaum (Ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Section) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934

literature

Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Church Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, pp. 162–175

Richard van Dülmen : Reformation as a revolution. Social movement and religious radicalism in the German Reformation , Munich 1977, ISBN 3-423-04273-7 , p. 222f

Gottfried Seebaß : Müntzer's legacy. Work, Life and Theology of Hans Huts , Volume 73 in the series Sources and Research on Reformation History (Ed. Irene Dingel on behalf of the Association for Reformation History ), Gütersloh 2002, ISBN 3-579-01758-6 , pp. 239–245

Anselm Schubert : The day of the Lord's dream. The "Uttenreuther Dreamers" and the apocalyptic Anabaptism . In: Archive for Reformation History, No. 97/2006, pp. 106–136

Hans-Jürgen Goertz : Dreams, Revelations, Visions . In: Ders .: Radicality of the Reformation. Essays and treatises , Göttingen 2007, pp. 164–187

Katharina Reinholdt: Becoming one body in Christ. Marriage ideas and practice among the Anabaptists in the 16th and early 17th centuries , Göttingen 2012

Erich Paulus / Regina Paulus: Uttenreuth. History book about a Franconian village on the outskirts of the city , Uttenreuth 2001, ISBN 3-87707-576-2 , pp. 58–62

Web links

Anselm Schubert (Mennonite Lexicon): Uttenreuther dreamers ; accessed on November 4, 2014

Individual evidence

↑ See, for example, Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 162

↑ This is a note from the Brandenburg Chancellor Georg Vogler dated May 12, 1531 and the so-called Nuremberg report of June 3, 1531; More information can be found in Anselm Schubert: The day of the Lord's dream. The "Uttenreuther Dreamers" and the apocalyptic Anabaptism . In: Archive for Reformation History, No. 97/2006, p. 106, note 1

^ Karl Schornbaum (Ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Abtheilung) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 253

↑ Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 163f

↑ Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 164

↑ Karl Schornbaum (Ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Department) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 222 (“about Pentecost”); P. 272 ("about Bartholomäi")

↑ Quotations from Karl Schornbaum (ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Section) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 253 (interrogation on May 25, 1531)

↑ Quotation from Karl Schornbaum (ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Section) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 272 (interrogation on June 21 and 22, 1531)

↑ Anselm Schubert: The day of the dream of the Lord. The "Uttenreuther Dreamers" and the apocalyptic Anabaptism . In: Archive for the History of the Reformation , No. 97/2006, p. 116

↑ On Jakob Storger see Christian Neff: Storger, Jakob (d. 1537) , in: GAMEO Online, 1959 ; Accessed January 23, 206

↑ See also Günter Bauer, Beginnings of Anabaptist Church Formations in Franconia , Nuremberg 1966, p. 170 f

^ Administrative community Uttenreuth: Chronicle of the community Uttenreuth ; accessed on January 22, 2016

[1] See, for example, Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 162

[2] This is a note from the Brandenburg Chancellor Georg Vogler dated May 12, 1531 and the so-called Nuremberg report of June 3, 1531; More information can be found in Anselm Schubert: The day of the Lord's dream. The "Uttenreuther Dreamers" and the apocalyptic Anabaptism . In: Archive for Reformation History, No. 97/2006, p. 106, note 1

[3] Karl Schornbaum (Ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Abtheilung) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 253

[4] Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 163f

[5] Günter Bauer: Beginnings of Anabaptist Congregation Education in Franconia , Volume XLIII in the series Individual Works from the Church History of Bavaria (Ed .: Association for Bavarian Church History under the responsible editor of Georg Kuhr), Nuremberg 1966, p. 164

[6] Karl Schornbaum (Ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Department) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 222 (“about Pentecost”); P. 272 ("about Bartholomäi")

[7] Quotations from Karl Schornbaum (ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Section) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 253 (interrogation on May 25, 1531)

[8] Quotation from Karl Schornbaum (ed.): Markgraftum Brandenburg (Bavaria I. Section) , Volume II in the series: Sources for the history of the Anabaptists , Leipzig 1934, p. 272 (interrogation on June 21 and 22, 1531)