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Revolution and the Swiss Brethren: The Case of Michael Sattler

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

C. Arnold Snyder
C. Arnold Snyder
Affiliation:
This article was awarded the Sidney E. Mead Prize for 1980. Mr. Snyder is assistant professor of history inBluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio.
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Extract

One of the most significant events in recent Anabaptist studies has been the entry of secular historians into a field traditionally populated by confessional apologists.The result has been a striking change in historical perspective, particularly concerning the origin and nature of the early Swiss Anabaptist movement. Whereas Harold Bender saw Anabaptism as an emphatically religious movement which emerged directly from Zwingli's reformation and continued on the original path even after Zwingli had abandoned his original vision, the new view suggests that Swiss Anabaptism grew out of the social, economic, and religious ferment of Zürich and the outlying rural districts.But the revision does not stop there.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 276 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1981

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References

1. For historiographical background, see Bender, Harold, “The Historiography of the Anabaptists,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 31 (1957): 88–104Google Scholar (periodical hereafter cited as MQR). See also Stayer, James, Packull, Werner, and Deppermann, Klaus, “From Monogenesis to Polygenesis: The Historical Discussion of Anabaptist Origins,” MQR 49 (1975): 83–121.Google Scholar Bender's essay contains the essential Mennonite revision of the view which considered all Anabaptists as Schwärmer. The essay by Stayer, Packull, and Depperman contains the most comprehensive revision of Bender's corrective.

2. For the former view, see Bender, Harold, Conrad Grebel (Scottdale, Pa., 1950);Google Scholaridem, “The Anabaptist Vision,” Church History 13 (1944): 3–24. See also Yoder, John H., “The Turning Point in the Zwinglian Reformation,” MQR 32 (1958): 128–140.Google Scholar For the new view, see Walton, Robert, Zwingli's Theocracy (Toronto, 1967);Google ScholarStayer, James, Anabaptists and the Sword (Lawrence, Ka., 1972);Google Scholaridem, “Die Anfänge des schweizerischen Täufertums,” in Umstrittenes Täufertum, ed. Hans-Jürgen Goertz (Göttingen, 1977), pp. 19–49; idem, “Reublin and Brötli: The Revolutionary Beginnings of Swiss Anabaptism,” in The Origins and Characteristics of Anabaplism, ed. Marc Lienhard (The Hague, 1977), pp. 83–102; Martin Haas, “Der Weg der Täfer in die Absonderung,” in Goertz, , Umstrittenes Täufertum, pp. 50–78.Google Scholar

3. Stayer, Packull, and Deppermann, “Monogenesis to Polygenesis.” Presumably Anabaptism as a movement must now be described as “inherently polymorphic” rather than “monomorphic, with heterodox aberrations.”

4. The debt owed to Marxist historians is acknowledged by Stayer, in “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom and Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend,” MQR 53 (1979): 212–213.Google Scholar

5. Compare Oyer, John S., ed., “Problems of Anabaptist History: A Symposium,” MQR 53 (1979): 175–218.Google Scholar

6. The basic biography is that of Gustav Bossert found in the Mennonite Encyclopedia, s.v. “Sattler, Michael.” See also Yoder, John H., The Legacy of Michael Sattler (Scottdale, Pa., 1973).Google Scholar

7. See Ottelinus to Bucer, 7 February 1527, in Krebs, Manfred and Rott, Hans, eds., Elsaß, vol. 1, Quellen zur Geschichte der Täufer (Gütersloh, 1959), pp. 72–73Google Scholar (series hereafter cited as QGT). The single reference to Sattler's having been prior comes from Valerius Anshelm, , Die Berner-Chronik, 5 vols. (Bern, 1896), 5:185.Google Scholar Sattler must have resided at Saint Peter's in the 1520s, since he is found in Anabaptist company in 1525. The monastic record itself fails to mention Sattler. The priors of Saint Peter's are identified up to 1518, but there is then a gap in the record until 1545. See Baumeister, P. Gregorius, “Synopsis Annalium Monasterii S. Petri in nigra silva …,” 1770, Erzbischöfliches Archiv, Freiburg, pp. 120–143.Google Scholar

8. Stricker, Hans, “Michael Sattler als Verfasser der ‘Schleitheimer Artikel,’” Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter 21 (1964): 15–18Google Scholar (periodical hereafter cited as MGB). A critical edition of the Articles can be found in Fast, Heinold, ed., Schweiz, vol. 2, QGT (Zürich, 1973), pp. 26–35.Google Scholar Although John Yoder and Klaus Deppermann disagree sharply concerning Sattler's reason for being in Strasbourg, they agree that Schleitheim marks the beginning of the Swiss Brethren as a distinct movement. Compare Yoder, John, “Der Kristallisationspunkt des Täufertums,” MGB 24 (1972): 35–47,Google Scholar and Deppermann, Klaus, “Die Straβburger Reformatoren und die Krise des oberdeutschen Täufertums im Jahre 1527,” MGB 25 (1973): 24–41.Google Scholar See also Stayer, , Anabaptists and the Sword, p. 130.Google Scholar For objections to Yoder's description, see Oosterbaan, J. A., “De Broederlijke Vereiniging, een voorlopig consolidatiepunt der broederschap,” in Broederlijke Vereiniging, ed. Meihuizen, H. W., Oosterbaan, J. A., and Kossen, H. B. (Amsterdam, 1974), pp. 23–38.Google Scholar

9. One trial account is found in Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, pp. 67–80.Google Scholar For a second account and a discussion of the reliability of trial accounts, see Snyder, Arnold, “Rottenburg Revisited: New Evidence Concerning the Trial of Michael Sattler,” MQR 55 (1980): 208–228.Google Scholar

10. Both Bucer and Capito were laudatory following Sattler's execution. See Krebs, and Rott, , Elsaβ, 1:110, 80–87.Google Scholar

11. Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, p. 78.Google Scholar The original is in Muralt, Leonhard von and Schmid, Walter, eds., Schweiz, vol. 1, QGT (Zürich, 1952), p. 252.Google Scholar

12. Braght, Thieleman J. van, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs' Mirror, trans. Sohm, Joseph (Scottdale, Pa., 1972), pp. 416–418.Google Scholar For a modern, noncritical treatment, see Wiswedel, Wilhelm, Bilder und Führergestalten aus dem Täufertum, 3 vols. (Kassel, 1952), 3: 9–23.Google Scholar Compare Snyder, Arnold, “The Life of Michael Sattler Reconsidered,” MQR 52 (1978): 328–332.Google Scholar

13. Jodocus's monastic reform is mentioned in a letter from the Regents at Ensisheim to the city council of Freiburg, 3 March 1519, Kirchensachen, no. 135, Stadtarchiv, Freiburg. Compare Abbot Jodocus to Ernst of Baden, 4 May 1519, pt 14, no. 2, Generallandesarchiv, Karlsruhe, concerning this same reform. See also Baumeister, , “Synopsis,” p. 135;Google Scholaridem, “Compendium Actorum seu Annales Monasterii S. Petri in Nigra Silva,” 1758, 1:318 (manuscript in pt. 5, no. 532, Generallandesarchiv). Baumeister reports that the reformation of the monastery was accepted at the urging of Bishop Hugo of Constance.

14. The Bursfeld Union was a strongly centralized Benedictine reforming congregation stressing uniformity of observance and discipline. Its first annual chapter was held in 1446. Schmitz, Dom Philibert, Histoire de l'Ordre de Saint-Benoît, 7 vols. (Maredsous, 1948), 3: 190–194.Google Scholar Documents related to Saint Peter's are in Volk, Paulus, Die Generalkapitels-Rezesse der Bursfelder Kongregation, 2 vols. (Siegburg, 1955), 1: 483.Google Scholar Compare idem, Die Generalkapitel der Bursfelder Benediktzner-Kongregation (Münster, 1928), p. 110.

15. The phrase is used by Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, p. 10;Google Scholar Sattler's biographers agree. Compare Snyder, “Life of Sattler.”

16. Albert, Peter, “Die reformatorische Bewegung zu Freiburg bis zum Jahre 1525,” Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv (Freiburg, 1919), p. 27.Google Scholar

17. The “Ordnung der Exekution über die verbotenen Bücher” is printed in ibid., pp. 38–39.

18. Ibid., pp. 47–58.

19. The Freiburg council reported in March 1523 that the notorious Karsthans “unterwist allenthalben das gemein unverstendig volk (in) der lutterischen opinion und gib(t) also in ewangelischem schin underrichtung und ursach zu ungehorsam und pundschuchischer handlung” (quoted in ibid., p. 44).

20. Sussann, Hermann, Jakob Otter (Karlsruhe, 1892), pp. 28–29.Google Scholar

21. “Freiburg habe Kenzingen schmälich überzogen und ins Verderbnis gestürzt. Aber in kurzer Zeit werde Freiburg, welches das Gottesword ‘verdrucken’ wolle, auch überzogen und ins Verderben gestürzt werden” (quoted in ibid., p. 32).

22. Abbot Jodocus was often in Freiburg dealing with litigation of one sort or another. See Baumeister, , “Synopsis,” pp. 129–143,Google Scholar passim.

23. Mayer, Hermann, Die Matrikel der Universitäl Frezburg i. Br. von 1460–1656 (Freiburg, 1907).Google Scholar The earliest notice of a monk from Saint Peter's attending the University of Freiburg comes from 1551. Ibid., no. 23, p. 385.

24. Ernst of Baden was one of three sons of the Margrave Christoph I of Baden. In 1515 Ernst received from his father the margraviate of Hochberg, near Freiburg, and the territories of Uesenberg, Rötteln, Badenweiler, and Sausenberg. Bartmann, Heinrich, “Die badische Kirchenpolitik unter den Markgrafen Philipp I, Ernst und Bernhard III von 1515 bis 1536,” Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, n.s. 69 (1960): 7.Google Scholar

25. As Margrave of Hochberg, Ernst assumed the rights of Vogt or overseer of Saint Peter's. Mayer, Julius, Geschichte der Benediktinerabtei, St. Peter auf dem Schwarzwald (Freiburg, 1893), pp. 70–72.Google Scholar

26. Bartmann, , “Kirchenpolitik,” pp. 36–37;Google ScholarZeeden, E. W., Kleine Reformationsgeschichte von Baden-Durlach and Kurpfaltz (Karlsruhe, 1956), pp. 20–21.Google Scholar

27. Mayer, , Geschichte der Benediktinerabtei, pp. 70–71.Google Scholar

28. The Margrave to the Regents at Ensisheim, 28 March 1522, pt. 14, no. 2, Generallandesarchiv.

29. Freiburg council to the Regents at Ensisheim, 7 March 1522, ibid.; and the Margrave to the Freiburg council, 7 March 1522, ibid.

30. The Margrave to the Regents at Ensisheim, 28 March 1522, ibid.

31. Hartfelder, Karl, Geschichte des Bauernkriegs im Südwestdeutschland (Stuttgart, 1884).Google Scholar

32. Ibid., p. 300.

33. “Ernestus Marchio Hochbergensis una cum octo abbatibus Friburgum fugit … Octo enim abbates… quos inter et Dominus Jodocus erat …” (Baumeister, , “Compendium,” p. 324).Google Scholar

34. Schreiber, Heinrich, ed., Der deutsche Bauernkrieg, gleichzeitige Urkunden, 3 vols. (Freiburg, 1863), 2:101.Google Scholar

35. Ibid., pp. 87–88. Compare Hug, Heinrich, Villinger Chronik, con 1495 his 1533, ed. Roder, Christian (Tübingen, 1883), p. 118.Google Scholar

36. Ibid., p. 119.

37. “Item mornens am fritag (12 Mai) zoch Hanss Miller mit sim huffen von Sant Jergen gen Füttwangen. Da aβen sy zü morgen und nomen dem alten fogt von Triberg, Benedikt Wachier, 8 ochsen im Rorbach, die tribend sy mit in hinweg uff Sant Pettern zü. Das woltend sy och innemen in ir brûderschafft, des gelichen Santt Mergen und den selben gantzen walld” (ibid., p. 120).

38. “… rusticorum turma e S. Georgi monasterio in Furtwangen, et inde ad S. Petrum, Kirchzarten, et Ebnet veniunt, quorum inquilini omnes obedientiam eis iurato ponderunt” (Baumeister, , “Compendium,” pp. 323–324).Google Scholar

39. Bergsten, Torsten, Balthasar Hubmaier, Anabaptist Theologian and Martyr, trans. Barnes, I. J. and Estep, William R. (Valley Forge, Pa. 1978), pp. 230–231.Google Scholar

40. Stayer, “Reublin and Brötli.”

41. Bergsten, , Hubmaier, p. 212.Google Scholar

42. See, for instance, the interesting anonymous pamphlet Ain Schöner Dialogus wie ain bawr mit aim frawen brûder münch redt… (n.p., 1525) and compare with Hubmaier's sentiments of April 1524: “Wer da nit sûcht in dem schweyss seyns angesichts sein brot, der ist im bann, auch vnwirdig der speyss, die er ysst” (Hubmaier, Balthasar, Balthasar Hubmaier Schriften, ed. Westin, Gunnar and Bergsten, Torsten [Gütersloh, 1962], p. 74).Google Scholar

43. Muralt, Von and Schmid, , Schweiz, 1:73.Google Scholar

44. “… by March, 1525, [he] had become a member of the Anabaptist movement which had just begun at Zürich two months before” (Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, p. 10).Google Scholar

45. Muralt, Von and Schmid, , Schweiz, 1:136.Google Scholar

46. Such is the conclusion of Meihuizen, H. W., “Who Were the ‘False Brethren’ Mentioned in the Schleitheim Articles?” MQR 41 (1967): 207.Google Scholar Compare Yoder's rebuttal in Legacy of Sattler, p. 16, n. 2.

47. Muralt, Von and Schmid, , Schweiz, 1:200–202.Google Scholar

48. Ibid., no. 180, pp. 197–199.

49. Ibid., p. 201.

50. “Darby ist vermeindt, er syg der Michel, der vormals ouch üwer gefangner ist, im ist aber nit also, daruss ir mir dester geneygter zûtrungen hannd…” (ibid., pp. 201–202). Yoder argues, against Meihuizen, that Kuenzi “denies that the unbaptized monk who came to him was the same as ‘the Michael who was previously your prisoner’” (Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, p. 16,Google Scholar n. 2). I find no justification for Yoder's rendering. Kuenzi is not denying the man's identity, but rather is saying “for him [dative] it is not so.”

51. Muralt, Von and Schmid, , Schweiz, 1:202.Google Scholar

52. Ibid., nos. 169, 170, 180, 246, 247, 249, 290, 291, 295, and 304.

53. Ibid., nos. 246, 247, and 249.

54. Ibid., p. 270.

55. Ibid., p. 273; see also n. 4.

56. In fact the evidence indicates the opposite conclusion. At his trial Sattler says, “You should ask, and you will find, that I and my brothers and sisters have not acted against any government in words or deeds” (Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, p. 73).Google Scholar

57. “The complex mutual relations of Hallau, Waldshut, Bülach, Thayngen and the various German peasant bands demonstrates the complex mixture of radical Reformed and peasants' movements” (Stayer, , “Reublin and Bröth,” p. 96).Google Scholar

58. “Lastly one can see in the following points that it does not befit a Christian to be a magistrate: the rule of the government is according to the flesh, that of Christians according to the spirit. … The worldly are armed with steel and iron, but Christians are armed with the armor of God, with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and with the Word of God” (from the Schleitheim Articles, translated in Yoder, , Legacy of Sattler, pp. 40–41).Google Scholar

59. My work confirms Stayer's original conclusion in Anabaptists and the Sword, p. 131.Google Scholar