Reformation Period - Persecution

[Ernie]

I'm looking for some data about persecution of religious sects during the Reformation.

1. Is it correct that if someone lived in a Protestant canton, they were required to baptize their babies into whatever church was in power in that canton? If someone lived in a Catholic canton, they were required to baptize their baby as a Catholic? Were there any exceptions to this?

2. Did any early Anabaptists live in areas of Orthodox domain, and if so, were they persecuted by the Orthodox church?

3. Approximately how many Anabaptists were martyred? (not counting the militant deviants such as the Muensterites)

[Josh]

I'm looking for some data about persecution of religious sects during the Reformation.

1. Is it correct that if someone lived in a Protestant canton, they were required to baptize their babies into whatever church was in power in that canton? If someone lived in a Catholic canton, they were required to baptize their baby as a Catholic? Were there any exceptions to this?

2. Did any early Anabaptists live in areas of Orthodox domain, and if so, were they persecuted by the Orthodox church?

3. Approximately how many Anabaptists were martyred? (not counting the militant deviants such as the Muensterites)

#1, you said “Canton” so I assume you mean Switzerland. Technically baptising infants wasn’t required but if you didn’t you had basically zero rights including letting children inherit property or be able to be legally married.

#2, none I am aware of until the migration to Russia by Hutterites and Mennonites.

#3, estimates seem to vary a lot.

[ohio jones]

I'm looking for some data about persecution of religious sects during the Reformation.

1. Is it correct that if someone lived in a Protestant canton, they were required to baptize their babies into whatever church was in power in that canton? If someone lived in a Catholic canton, they were required to baptize their baby as a Catholic? Were there any exceptions to this?

2. Did any early Anabaptists live in areas of Orthodox domain, and if so, were they persecuted by the Orthodox church?

3. Approximately how many Anabaptists were martyred? (not counting the militant deviants such as the Muensterites)

1. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) that established cuius regio, eius religio did have a narrow exception for Lutheran cities within Catholic territories.

2. The Marginal Mennonite Society's Guide to the Anabaptist Martyrs of Europe does not list any majority-Orthodox areas. Whether there were none or they narrowed their scope to only the countries listed I am not sure. I would consider most things put out by the MMS to be, well, marginal, but this document appears to have some value.

The areas of Orthodox control were basically buffered from the eastern edge of the Anabaptist movement by the Ottomans (the Muslim Turks referenced in Sattler's trial). In general, I understand the Ottoman Empire was tolerant of Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants as long as they paid their special taxes as non-Muslims. That tolerance may have extended to Anabaptists as well, to the extent there were any in their territories.

3. GAMEO suggests the total was over 4000. That's from the original 1953 article, and there has been quite a bit of research since. I've seen claims of over 5000 in Switzerland alone, but no solid data to back that up.

[Karstan78]

Interesting this came up. We recently stayed in area proudly displaying their Reformation locals. Johannes Schwebel was one such figure. We googled him and found he was responsible for a book which is a rough „How to“ of Anabaptist persecution that was used around Germany for the persecution of Anabaptists. If you can read German it may be of some help for your questions, or point you in the way of other resources.
Eine freundliche Vermahnung und Unterricht an etlich, die des Wiedertaufs verdachtig sind in Bischweiler.

https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schwe ... 1490-1540)


We also live by the University of Marburg, a place Anabaptists were also imprisoned and charged. Perhaps they would have more records and Leads for you to chase?

[Ernie]

Interesting this came up. We recently stayed in area proudly displaying their Reformation locals. Johannes Schwebel was one such figure. We googled him and found he was responsible for a book which is a rough „How to“ of Anabaptist persecution that was used around Germany for the persecution of Anabaptists. If you can read German it may be of some help for your questions, or point you in the way of other resources.
Eine freundliche Vermahnung und Unterricht an etlich, die des Wiedertaufs verdachtig sind in Bischweiler.

https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schwe ... 1490-1540)


We also live by the University of Marburg, a place Anabaptists were also imprisoned and charged. Perhaps they would have more records and Leads for you to chase?

Thanks but I am not that zealous to find the answers and no, I do not speak German.

[Neto]

Not sure how you would define the "early period", so maybe this is not within the time frame you are referring to, but as Josh said, the first Mennonite settlements in an Orthodox area may have been the colonies in what is now (mostly) Ukraine. The only persecution of which I am aware that took place there was in response to baptisms of formerly Orthodox church members.

I don't recall now what discussion it was in, but some time ago I quoted a historical reference that told the story of a young Ukrainian woman who came to faith as a result of her contact with her Mennonite employers. She was baptized by one of the Mennonite pastors, then when her father found out, he beat her severely until she gave up the pastor's name. The saddest part is that she eventually recanted as a result of all of this extreme pressure put upon her.
But as long as the Mennonites only baptized Lutherans and Jews (from their neighboring colonies), I have never heard that there was any opposition on the part of the Orthodox church.

[Josh]

Hutterites had significant contact with Ottomans in the sense the Ottomans periodically raised their villages and enslaved them. In fact, the majority of Hutterite-descended people are in former Ottoman lands now, such as Cyprus or Turkey.

[Ernie]

Not sure how you would define the "early period", so maybe this is not within the time frame you are referring to, but as Josh said, the first Mennonite settlements in an Orthodox area may have been the colonies in what is now (mostly) Ukraine. The only persecution of which I am aware that took place there was in response to baptisms of formerly Orthodox church members.

I don't recall now what discussion it was in, but some time ago I quoted a historical reference that told the story of a young Ukrainian woman who came to faith as a result of her contact with her Mennonite employers. She was baptized by one of the Mennonite pastors, then when her father found out, he beat her severely until she gave up the pastor's name. The saddest part is that she eventually recanted as a result of all of this extreme pressure put upon her.
But as long as the Mennonites only baptized Lutherans and Jews (from their neighboring colonies), I have never heard that there was any opposition on the part of the Orthodox church.

Did the Orthodox inflict persecution on other religious groups in the 1500's such as the Catholics and Protestants?

[Neto]

Not sure how you would define the "early period", so maybe this is not within the time frame you are referring to, but as Josh said, the first Mennonite settlements in an Orthodox area may have been the colonies in what is now (mostly) Ukraine. The only persecution of which I am aware that took place there was in response to baptisms of formerly Orthodox church members.

I don't recall now what discussion it was in, but some time ago I quoted a historical reference that told the story of a young Ukrainian woman who came to faith as a result of her contact with her Mennonite employers. She was baptized by one of the Mennonite pastors, then when her father found out, he beat her severely until she gave up the pastor's name. The saddest part is that she eventually recanted as a result of all of this extreme pressure put upon her.
But as long as the Mennonites only baptized Lutherans and Jews (from their neighboring colonies), I have never heard that there was any opposition on the part of the Orthodox church.

Did the Orthodox inflict persecution on other religious groups in the 1500's such as the Catholics and Protestants?

I don't know personally, but the overall policy was no Orthodox conversions to any other faith. So I would assume that IF that took place into the Lutherans (or Catholics), then there would have been an aggressive response. That is, I do not think that the Mennonites were in any way singled out for persecution. They were, in fact, regarded as model "citizens" by the Czar, and he visited the colonies on more than one occasion, and took meals in Mennonite homes. (This is perhaps especially applicable to Alexander the 2nd.)
[I am not aware of any Catholic colonies in the Mennonite areas. I suppose there may have been some. I do not know much about this topic, but just that Russia tended to equate 'Catholic' with 'Polish', and a rebellion of the Poles in Czarist Russia in the early 1860's probably increased the bad feeling toward Catholicism in general. These Polish areas were probably much farther west than the Mennonite colony areas. I don't have a clear concept of exactly where the western border of Czarist Russia was located - but it probably included parts of present day Poland.]

[Ernie]

Thanks for sharing Neto.

We know that the Catholics and Protestants fought religious/territorial wars in the 1500's and persecuted anyone who didn't conform to the religion of the land. I'm wondering if the Orthodox church was involved in the same kind of thing.