Originally published in The Mennonite Quarterly Review No. 96 (July 2022), 438–58. Reprinted by permission. For more about Jakob and Katherina Hutter see Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters, and By Fire: The Jakob Hutter Story.

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Jakob Hutter, the man who gathered and unified the disparate Anabaptist factions in Moravia into a well-functioning community during the two years he served as their bishop in the early 1530s, is relatively well known. His name lives on today in the Hutterian Brethren church, more commonly known as the Hutterites. Although the details of his life prior to 1529, when he emerged as a leading missionary in Tyrol, remain obscure, his last seven years are well documented in The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, in the form of his own letters (eight of which are extant) and in official records preserved in the archives in Innsbruck and Brixen.

By contrast, very little is known about the life and death of Hutter’s wife, Katharina Prast. Although archival records offer tantalizing details of her imprisonment, recantation, pregnancy, torture, and escape, she is not acknowledged in Hutterite sources. The few documented facts that are available have sometimes been embellished, and a certain amount of myth has grown around her.1

This research note attempts to separate fact from fiction, based on documented evidence.

 

KATHARINA’S BAPTISM AND EARLY IMPRISONMENT

No birth record exists for either Jakob or Katharina, but it is assumed that Jakob was born around 1500,2

and she may have been a little younger. The principal source of information on Katharina comes from a hearing on December 3, 1535, when she and Jakob were arrested with two other women.3 According to court records, her father was Lorentz Prast.4 A transcription of her testimony reports the following:

It was about three years ago, when she was serving as a maid in Paul Gall’s house in Trens, that she was convinced to join the Anabaptist sect through Paul Gall and also Paul Rumer and others, some of whom have been executed and some who have moved to Moravia. Jakob Hutter, the leader, who is now her brother in marriage and her husband, baptized her there. This would place her baptism in 1532. Paul Gall and his wife, Justina, were a family of means who sometimes hosted secret Anabaptist meetings in their home.5

Paul Rumer, Justina’s brother, was arrested and interrogated in September 1533 and presumably executed shortly afterwards.6

Katharina was evidently arrested within months of her baptism. At that time, she succumbed to torture and fear and recanted, as was reported by her captors in 1536. In a letter of February 5, 1536, government representatives in Innsbruck wrote to the warden of Gufidaun prison:

We received a copy of Simon of Permatin’s letter that you sent to our Upper Austrian government on January 27, reporting that the wife of leader Jakob Hutter was pardoned and released from Rodeneck in 1533 on her recantation of the Anabaptist sect and recognition of her error. Since she has fallen into the error of Anabaptism again, we command that you yourself – or one or more sensible, devout men or women, whom you would bring to her in prison in your presence – try to convince her with good, Christian admonition and all possible diligence to renounce the error of Anabaptism again, and return to the old, true Christian belief of infant baptism and recognition of the revered sacrament of the altar.7

No record of the imprisonment mentioned in this letter has been found. However, we do know that on December 31, 1532, Paul Gall was arrested in Rodeneck, along with a miller’s boy, two adult women, and a young girl named Sollin.8

Katharina’s association with the Gall family suggests that she may have been one of the adult women.9 Recantation was a humiliating ordeal that included standing behind the altar for three consecutive Sundays and swearing an oath never to leave the church again. One such oath, given by Elspet, wife of Anthony von Wolkenstein, on May 12, 1534, included the following:

I, Elspet, Anthony von Wolkenstein’s wife, admit that I was misled into the seductive sect of the Anabaptists. I am deeply sorry and recognize that I did wrong. I recant and publicly swear and promise that from now for the rest of my life I will hold onto the unity of the church and never again separate from it.10

Paul Gall remained in prison for several months until his execution by beheading around June 25, 1533.11 His wife, Justina, continued to secretly provide food for those in hiding until she fled to Moravia.12 At that point, the government confiscated the Galls’ property.

If, in fact, Katharina recanted in January 1533, she immediately regretted it and returned quickly to the Anabaptist fellowship. Two months later she was arrested again. On March 25, 1533, Jakob Hupher, a judge in Bozen, reported to the Tyrolean government in Innsbruck that four Anabaptist women had been arrested: Clara Schneider, Anna Gerber, Elspet Lipp, and Katharina, daughter of Lorentz Prast of Taufers. In a letter of April 4, 1533, the central government in Innsbruck responded to Hupher and described the conditions under which Katharina and the other women were imprisoned:

Faithful servant! we received your report of March 25 with the testimonies of four Anabaptist persons: Clara, wife of Balthasar Schneider of Villnös; Katharina, daughter of Lorentz Prast of Taufers; Anna, daughter of Leonard Gerber of Tisen; and Elspet, daughter of Hans Lipp, also of Villnös. You wrote that after some necessary urging and instruction, Anna, Leonard Gerber’s daughter, is renouncing her error and false belief and will recant and do penance. We recommend that if her resolution is trustworthy, you deal with her according to the regulations as you have done with other Anabaptists: She should recant publicly on the church chancel and do the penance her priest requires of her. She should sign a written oath, and then you can release her. Furthermore, you write that the other three women still persist in their wicked Anabaptist belief with a perverted diligence. It is our command that you continue to have educated and knowledgeable priests instruct all three of them to abandon their error of Anabaptism. In addition, with the exception of the woman who is supposedly pregnant, the two other women should be threatened with beatings, using rods and switches. If necessary, and with the counsel of the jury, they should be beaten on the appropriate parts of their bodies to bring them to a permanent conversion and renunciation of their error. If the three of them recant as a result of such instruction and discipline of the rod, then, like Anna, Gerber’s daughter, they should make a public statement and do penance if there is a sound basis for it. But if such instruction and discipline of the rod does not help, and they persist in their stubborn error, on the basis of their statements and in the presence of the jury, they should be brought before the criminal court and treated according to the emperor’s edict and our published mandates. The one named Clara, who appears to be pregnant, should be examined by a knowledgeable woman. If she is in fact found to be pregnant, she should be isolated in the prison until delivery. Then, if she does not recant, she should also be brought before the criminal court. In addition, because these prisoners have mentioned other Anabaptists in Gufidaun, in Flass, Afing, and other towns, you should pass on the first and last names of these persons to the judges 442 The Mennonite Quarterly Review of those towns if you have not already done so, so that they can take suitable action against them….13

More than a month later, on May 11, the government representative in Innsbruck wrote again to Hupher:

Faithful servant, we received your letter of April 29 regarding several Anabaptist persons. If Anna (Leonard Gerber’s daughter) is credible in her resolve to recant, this should take place publicly according to protocol. But since the other three, Clara (Balthasar Schneider’s wife), Katharina (Lorentz Prast’s daughter) and Elspet (Hans Lipp’s daughter), persist in the seductive sect of Anabaptism and the disciplinarian [der Züchtiger] from Meran refuses to beat them with rods to convince them to recant of their error, we have commanded the lieutenant marshal Erasmus Offenhauser to write to the disciplinarian of Meran not to hesitate to beat Katharina and Elspet. If this does not have the desired effect the first time, he should continue two or three more times and threaten that this discipline will continue every day that they refuse to turn from their error. If this discipline of the rod and additional instruction helps them turn and recant, it is our opinion that you should proceed accordingly. If, however, it does not help, then, as commanded earlier, they should be brought before the criminal court and dealt with according to the imperial edict [i.e., executed]. Since there is still doubt whether Clara (Balthasar Schneider’s wife) is pregnant, keep her in prison until it is clear. In the meantime, continue to instruct her through spiritual persons to turn her from her error.14

Evidently there was no change in the women’s attitude. After another month the government office in Innsbruck wrote a third letter to Hupher, repeating the instruction that the discipline with rods, recommended in the letter of May 11, should continue. In addition, the women should be instructed and persuaded by educated persons and Holy Scripture. If they still would not recant “this new, second baptism, and refuse to recognize infant baptism,” they should be brought before the criminal court and judged according to the mandate.15

Katharina must have found a way to escape after suffering these two months of cruel punishment and found her way to Moravia, based on her statement at her interrogation: “Jakob Hutter, the leader, who is now her brother in marriage and her husband, baptized her. After that she moved down to Moravia.”16

 

TWO YEARS IN MORAVIA

In the summer of 1533 the fellowship in Tyrol apparently heard rumors that not all was well in Moravia. At a gathering near the mountain village of Gufidaun they responded by sending Jakob Hutter to serve the needs of the congregation there.17

The Hutterite Chronicle reports that he arrived in Auspitz with a group from Tyrol on August 11, 1533.18 Katharina may have been part of this group.19

The next two months were difficult. Anabaptist leaders in Moravia resented Hutter’s presence while he, as commissioned by those in Tyrol, insisted on confronting abuses within the leadership. Two months later, however, he was accepted as bishop.20

Over the next two years Hutter established a foundation firm enough to hold together the church that came to bear his name. The basic tenets were clear: no private property; nonviolence; adult baptism; clear spiritual leadership; accountability to one another; a form of discipline to restore fallen members; and celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Peter Riedemann would later formalize these principles in theological terms in his Rechenschaft.21

Sometime within the next year and a half, Jakob and Katharina were married in a simple service led by Jakob’s coworker Hans Amon. Although in her trial on December 3, 1535, she said that the marriage took place “around last Pentecost” (i.e., May 1535), it is possible that she meant the previous year. The Hutterite Chronicle reports that the community was on the run during Pentecost of 1535, expelled from Auspitz and then from Schackwitz, and forced to live outdoors – not an auspicious time to celebrate a wedding.22

An additional reason for placing the marriage earlier is a report from mid-October, 1535, that she was pregnant and about to give birth.23

In any case, in the summer of 1535, following a scathing letter that Hutter wrote to Moravia’s governor protesting the treatment of the beleaguered group, it was no longer safe for him to remain there. The community sent him to Tyrol, “to gather the saints of the Lord.” Hutter entrusted the church to Hans Amon.24

 

FINAL TRIP TO TYROL: CAPTURE AND EXECUTION

Based on four letters that Hutter wrote from Tyrol and on other extant records, a detailed chronology of this final mission trip can be pieced together. Jakob set out in early summer, accompanied by Katharina, the schoolmaster Jeronimus Käls, Michael Walser, Kaspar Kränzler, and possibly Wolf Zimmermann.25

Rather than taking the Brenner Pass, which would be closely watched, the group took a trail over the Tauern range farther east. They arrived in Taufers, Katharina’s hometown, in midJuly.26 It had been two years since Hutter was last in Tyrol, and he had to start over to rebuild a network of trustworthy persons with whom he could work.27

At Hörschwang, a few lonely farmsteads above St. Lorenzen, the travelers were welcomed by the Ober family. There Hans Ober, his wife, and his daughter Dorothy asked to be baptized. Slowly and cautiously Jakob learned of other Anabaptists and sympathizers, and baptized those who were ready to risk their lives. The first letter he wrote to the fellowship in Moravia gives a sense of the activities of the missionary team:

We have been faithfully and diligently traveling back and forth in the mountains and valleys, visiting those who hunger and thirst for the truth. We found quite a few, and they received us with joy and gratitude and with eager hearts. We proclaimed and preached the truth and the holy Gospel and several accepted the truth and devoted themselves to God. And the Almighty God and Father has again established a fellowship here in Tyrol and increased his people daily, time and again adding to his holy fellowship here those who are being saved. We have so much work to do for the Lord, day and night. We often wish we could be in many places at once and wish there were more of us, servants and other brothers fitted for the task, who are able and willing to carry out God’s work. For the harvest is very ripe, but the workers are few.28

Throughout August and September, Hutter’s presence in Tyrol was kept secret from the authorities. But eventually Peter Troyer, the local magistrate, learned that his daughter had joined the Anabaptists. On October 3, his friend Christoph Ochs, magistrate of neighboring Michaelsburg district, wrote to the bishop’s office in Brixen that Troyer had come to him in confidence with the news that just when they had thought the Anabaptists had been eradicated, Hutter had reappeared and had already baptized some twenty-five people.29

Now the authorities began to search for Hutter; it was only a matter of time before he was arrested.

Peter Troyer’s letter of October 15 is the source of speculation regarding Katharina’s baby. Based on a summary of the letter by historian Grete Mecenseffy, scholars have assumed that the baby was born after Katharina’s arrest. But none of the official correspondence following her arrest mentions her pregnancy. The full text of Troyer’s letter suggests that the birth was imminent in October:

Jakob Hutter has brought his wife with him. She is heavily pregnant, expecting to give birth any day – if that has not already happened. She looked for a place for her confinement in two places here in the Schöneck district, but did not stay. So it is necessary to write to the judges to ask everywhere where a poor girl might be lying in childbed. For wherever she is in childbed he [i.e., Jakob] will also seek refuge.30

Katharina likely found a safe place among friends or even family to deliver the baby in mid-October 1535.

Around this time Hutter’s missionary team helped a young woman, Anna Stainer (nicknamed Nändl), escape from prison.31

Although other members of the team divided up, Anna seems to have remained with the Hutter couple, perhaps caring for Katharina. The three of them were trying to leave the Pustertal a few weeks later when they were captured on November 30.

Their arrest is described in great detail, both in official reports and in the testimonies of Katharina and Anna. The three were initially taken to Branzoll castle in Klausen. Within a few days, however, Hutter was transferred to Innsbruck where he was interrogated and tortured. His execution followed on February 25, 1536.32

Meanwhile, Katharina and Anna remained in prison. They were interrogated on December 3, 1535, probably under torture. At that point, Katharina was moved to the prison in Gufidaun, the neighboring township, where she remained for several months. The government had sufficient interest in her case to make it the subject of several communications over the next months.

On January 21, 1535, they sent a letter to the warden of Rodeneck prison:

It has been reported to us that the wife of Jakob Hutter, leader of the Anabaptist sect, who is currently being held in prison in Gufidaun was released previously from Rodeneck prison, where she had been held because of the same Anabaptist sect. We request of you to report to us the conditions on which she was liberated from Rodeneck, in the name of his royal majesty, our gracious lord.33

On February 5, a letter was sent from Innsbruck to Adam Prew, warden of Gufidaun prison:

Faithful servant,

We received a copy of Simon of Permatin’s letter that you sent to our Upper Austrian government on January 27, reporting that the wife of leader Jakob Hutter was pardoned and released from Rodeneck in 1533 on her recantation of the Anabaptist sect and recognition of her error. Since she has fallen into the error of Anabaptism again, we command that you yourself or one or more sensible, devout men or women whom you would bring to her in prison in your presence, try to convince her with good, Christian admonition and all possible diligence to renounce her error of Anabaptism again, and return to the old, true Christian belief of infant baptism and recognition of the revered sacrament of the altar.34

On April 28, a letter was sent from the government center in Innsbruck to the bishop’s office in Brixen:

The wife of Jakob Hutter, the deceased Anabaptist leader, who remains in Gufidaun, persists in her stubborn opinion. Somebody who is educated, sensitive, and sensible should be sent to instruct her and convince her of her error, thus bringing her back to the old Christian faith. Anna Stainer should also be transferred to Gufidaun, where both she and Katharina would receive instruction in matters of faith from the priest.35

From the next extant communication, on August 2, however, it is clear that Katharina escaped:

We wrote last April 29 to the warden of Gufidaun, commanding that Anna Stainer, who is imprisoned at Branzol, be transferred to Gufidaun. We have just heard from the council in Brixen that this has not yet happened. We are displeased with the warden of Gufidaun and seriously request, in the name of his Royal Majesty, that you order your warden of Gufidaun or his administrator that he take over Anna Stainer, through the deputy captain of Branzol, and lead her to Gufidaun prison and deal with her according to our commands. She must be well guarded and secured so that she does not escape, as Jakob Hutter’s wife did. In addition, in the name of his Royal Majesty we will punish whoever it was who let Hutter’s wife escape….36

After this, Katharina’s trail disappears. Historian Johann Loserth stated that she returned to Moravia, based on Hans Amon’s letter:37

“Jakob’s Treindl escaped with the sister from Michelsberg; both remained faithful.”38 Werner Packull, on the other hand, assumes she remained in South Tyrol.39

Most scholars have assumed that Katharina was executed by drowning in Schöneck in 1538,40

but no one has provided a source for that claim. This can now be amended. Johann Loserth, who first noted Katharina’s execution, almost certainly drew that conclusion from a list of martyrs included in a codex of 594 leaves – known as Hab. 6 (Beck’s Codex N)41 – preserved in the Bratislava State Archive.42

Like other Hutterite codices from the late sixteenth century, the document contains a number of letters, or epistles, written by prisoners, several songs, and doctrinal texts. It also contains a number of repentance letters (Bussbriefe), evidently authored by the copyist Wastel Kremser himself. The list of martyrs contained in the codex includes names not mentioned in the Hutterite Chronicle. For some, including Hutter’s wife, Katharina (referred to by her nickname Treindl in the text), this may be the only record of their death. Unfortunately, no date is given for her execution.

The list of martyrs appears in two parts in the codex, each consisting of only a few pages, separated by 493 leaves. The first list begins on page 72 with the apostles and some early Christians up through Jan Hus in 1414 (as in the Chronicle, 28, or ZGL, 31). Sixteenth-century (Anabaptist) martyrs begin on page 78v. The accounts are generally short, in some cases only a sentence or less. Balthasar Hubmaier is listed twice, an indication that there was more than one original source for the listing. “Traindl Huetterin,” the 45th entry, reads simply: “Treindl Huetterin of Saal, executed at Schöneck” (Treindl Huetterin von Saal auff Schönöckh gericht worden).43

Although Katharina’s name was not immortalized in Hutterite chronicles, her life portrays the dangers sixteenth-century Anabaptists were willing to face for the sake of their faith. From the day of her baptism she risked imprisonment and death for opposing the stifling control of church and state. She endured the trauma of interrogation and torture and weeks of imprisonment. Although she married a prominent leader, she was unable to establish a home and raise a family. She suffered the loss of her child, the news of her husband’s execution, and ultimately her own untimely death. It is perhaps appropriate to say of Katharina Prast Hutter in phrases borrowed from a Hutterite Denckbuch:

This upright and brave sister in Christ, who pushed out of her mind all thoughts of her little child, husband, house and home, and all temporal things, valiantly armed her womanly heart with faith through the grace of God. She paid her Lord what she had vowed and went joyfully to meet her Bridegroom Christ with her lamp burning.44

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Appendix:

Translation of the Martyrology in Codex Hab. 645

In 1525 Caspar Tauber46

was burned in Vienna for the sake of the Gospel. He was led out before daylight, at night, first beheaded and then burned. It was also said that the priests gave the executioner money to stab him three times, in this way to deceive the people into believing that he had stabbed himself. This Caspar Tauber testified joyfully to the truth before the priests, who tried to dissuade him, with no regard for his wife, property, and money. He had been a merchant.

In 1527 Jörg Wagner47

was arrested because of four articles. First, [he said] that no priest can forgive sins; second, that no priest can bring God down from heaven; third, that God is not bread, as the priests claim; fourth, that baptism by water will not save people. He remained firm in this recognition and was burned in Munich on the 8th of February.

In 1527 on the Friday before St. Lawrence Day, Leonard Kaiser48

was condemned to die by fire in Schärding in Bavaria by the bishop of Passau, because of the divine truth. A priest who was imprisoned at the same time because of crimes testified of him: I deserve death, but this devout Christian is innocent. He also said that he was unworthy to stand next to him. [Kaiser] cheerfully called the bishop a tyrant and bloodhound. Then the executioner took Leonard Kaiser and tried to burn him. Afterwards they hacked him to pieces and threw the pieces in the fire, but they still did not burn. Then the executioners threw the pieces into the river called Inn.

In 1527 Michael Sattler,49

a well-spoken man in both Hebrew and Latin, was condemned to death in Rottenburg on the Necker for the sake of the divine truth. First his tongue was cut off, and then his body was ripped with tongs, and finally he was burned. He bore it all with patience. His fellow prisoner was beheaded and his wife drowned. They testified valiantly to the truth with their blood on the 26th of May, 1528.

In 1528 Balthasar [Hubmaier]50

and his wife were arrested in Nikolsburg and taken in chains to Vienna in Austria. There he was burned by command of Ferdinand, and his wife was drowned. They remained firm and valiantly testified to the truth with their blood.

In 1529 Ludwig Haetzer51

was condemned to death by sword after a long imprisonment in Constance. He was beheaded on February 4.

In 1528 in Pressburg two monks52

from Burggraf were imprisoned in Sädele Castle, arrested on the bank and taken to the castle. One of the monks was from Switzerland; the other was the son of a citizen of Ulm. He had preached the gospel and refuted the pope’s mass and idolatry, saying it was meaningless. He was betrayed by another monk to the burgrave who had a barrel made that had nails hammered into it. He put the monk into the barrel, up to his cowl, and then took him to the place of execution. He and the barrel were placed on the wood, which was then ignited. However, he did not burn, so they suffocated him in the smoke. He remained faithful to the end and testified to the Lord and his word with his blood. It is not known what happened to the other monk; he may have been killed secretly.

In 1545 in Vienna a brother named Oswald [Glait]53

was led out at midnight and thrown into the water. But he remained steadfast to the end, valiantly testifying to the truth with his blood.

Countless people were killed because of the truth.

In 1546 in Vienna four brothers54

were taken to the market place and beheaded to avoid an uproar. They testified valiantly to the truth and witnessed or sealed it with their blood on November 22.

In 1527 Johannes Schlaffer55

was beheaded in Schwaz. He had previously been a Roman [Catholic] priest, and came to the church in Moravia and was a servant of the Word. He was highly educated, wellversed in Scripture, as his account testifies.

Johannes Hut,56

a foreigner in Augspurg, was a respected teacher of the church there. He was mocked by the supposed evangelical preachers as a bishop of the Anabaptists. They wrote many things against him and had him arrested. Because he was educated and well-spoken he was smothered with smoke in the prison dungeon. His dead body was put on a cart, his sentence read over him (which he could no longer answer), and then burned.

In 1528 Leonard Schiemer,57

who had been a monk and became a servant in Christ’s teaching and his baptism, was beheaded in Rattenberg on the Inn. He remained firm in God. The articles he wrote from prison are familiar to the devout.

In 1528 Oswald Binder58

was beheaded in Munich in Bavaria for the sake of God’s word and the witness of Jesus Christ. He was a servant of the word and was therefore called “a bishop of the Anabaptists.” When he knelt down he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” and all the people were amazed.

In 1527 Adolfus Clarenbach and Peter of Fliesteden59

from the Gelitschen land [?] were arrested in Cologne on the Rhine because of the holy gospel and their faith in Jesus Christ. After long interrogations and disputes they were both burned as Roman heretics. They remained firm in the divine truth. An account was printed of their confession and their entire case.

In 1538 Leonard Lochmair,60

who was also a servant after he came to Christian faith and who held Christian baptisms[?], was executed in Brixen in the county of Tyrol for the sake of the divine truth and his witness to Jesus Christ. He bravely testified to the truth and died in God.

These stories are continued consecutively on page 599ff.

[on page 574]

You can find more of the stories that follow at the beginning [of this book] on pages 73 to 82.

1525 continued, about Doctor Balthasar Hubmaier61

from Friedberg in Bavaria. He was first a reading master in Ingolstadt at the university and ultimately was made a doctor. Then he came to Regensburg and became a preacher. There he preached so vehemently against the Jews that they were driven out of the city. He also organized a huge pilgrimage in 1516 with an unprecedented number of participants. After that King Ferdinand made him provost over the four cities on the Rhine. Ulrich Zwingli convinced him to his opinion and to leave his Roman faith. Finally, he came to true faith through a believer and was baptized according to the order of Christ and his apostles on the basis of true Christian faith. He then began to teach baptism with many of his followers. The popish, Lutheran, and Zwinglian churches wrote and disputed against him. After much persecution he came to Nikolsburg in Moravia from Waldshut with a large number of people and the Lord of Liechtenstein. There he began a fellowship in the Spirit with great effort and work. In 1527 he was arrested in Nikolsburg by the King’s provost, chained to a wagon and taken to Vienna in Austria. There he was damned as a Roman heretic by the scribes of the university. He was burned and his wife was drowned. Both endured steadfastly and commended their souls to God the Father.

1531. Johannes Leopold62

was a tailor in Augsburg in Swabia. From his youth on he had a good testimony from all who knew him because of his virtue and blameless life. He was a servant of the fellowship there. When he was led out, his sentence was read over him in front of the Rathaus, that he should be executed by sword, from life to death. He spoke: Not as you lords of Augsburg will, but according to God’s will, from death to life. The crowd was appalled at what he said just before his end, and he was beheaded.

About Johannes Langenmantel.63

Eitelhans Langenmantel was a citizen of the most respected family in Augsburg. He came to the right Christian recognition of faith and was accepted into the fellowship through baptism and in the end was chosen as a servant of the Word because he was richly talented in Holy Scripture, as his printed booklet demonstrates. The supposed evangelical preachers there were angry; they contradict him in writing and disputed with him. But his relatives were powerful and out of shame did not want him to be executed in Augsburg. He was carried in a chair before the town hall and his sentence was read over him, that he should be beheaded. But his powerful relatives interceded on his behalf, that he should be shown mercy and carried outside of the city. That took place. He was carried in a chair because he had gout and placed on a cart. He was taken from Ulm to Horn, where he was beheaded in his chair.

Of Jacob Hutter.64

In 1536 Jakob Hutter, a servant of Jesus Christ and his fellowship in Moravia, was arrested in the house of an old sexton in Klausen in the Adige or the county of Tyrol. He was taken to Branzoll Castle and then after a short time to Innsbruck. He was mocked by his enemies, who paraded him with a tuft of feathers. They put him in ice water in the middle of winter so that he froze, and then into a hot room. They lacerated his body and poured brandy into the wounds and ignited it. After long and various tortures they burned him to death. He endured his suffering and was faithful to death.

1538, Onophrius Griesinger.65

He too, by the grace of God, became a servant of the Lord and his church. Afterwards he was arrested in the county of Tyrol and taken as a prisoner to Brixen. He lay there in prison and after many varied trials, pain, and suffering he was condemned to death. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. He spoke gently and tenderly to the people and was then burned by Aichele, the imperial provost on All Saints’ Eve between 10:00 and 11:00. He died, constant to God. But God the Lord struck Aichele with such terror through Offrius’s faithfulness, that he raised his hand and swore that he would never again execute a brother as long as he lived. In the end he was stabbed in Wurtemberg.

In 1538 Georg Fasser,66

a servant of the word of the gospel, was burned alive in Pöggstall in Austria for the sake of witnessing to Jesus Christ. He testified valiantly to the truth and died in God.

In 1538 Georg Zaunring67

of Rattenberg, also a servant of the word, was executed in the diocese of Bamberg.

Georg Blaurock68

from Switzerland, a servant of God’s word.

Wolfgang Brandhuber69

of Passau was also a teacher of the gospel. He was burned in Linz in 1529.

Hans Tischler,70

a servant of God’s word.

Lienhart Laistschneider of Salzburg, a servant of the word, executed in Vöcklabruck.

Hans Brandhuber71

of Passau, a servant. He and his wife were executed in Griesbach.

Jeronimus of Salzburg, Carius Binder, Wolfgang Wimer of Steyr.72

These three were servants of God’s word.

Matheus Glasser of Salzburg,73

a servant, was executed in Vöcklabruck.

Hans Glasser, a servant of the Word, executed in Enns.

Bastel Glasser74

executed in Imst in the Upper Inn Valley with Hansel Grünfelder. His brothers in the Lord from the Ötz Valley.

Jacob Zängerle was also executed in Imst.

Ulrich Mülner75

of Klausen was executed in Klausen.

Andreas Kofler76

from the Adige region was executed in Ybbs on the Danube.

Hans Schütz,77

a Bavarian, was executed in Ried at Hausruck.

Ulrich Pauer, Hans Schmid, Simon of Silberberg78

were executed in Hag at Hausruck.

Gredl Balser Mairin of Unter Findl;

Apolonia Saillerin79

from Kitzbühel;

Valthein Lugmair80

from Taufers;

Peter Glasser of Sunenburg;

Gregori Weber81

from Pfaumen;

Treindl Paderin of St. Lorenzen;

Otilge82

from Ritten;

Traindl Legederin from Klausen

Treindl Huetterin83

of Saal, executed at Schöneck.

Ändle Sackmanin84

from Ritten, executed in Taufers in the Adige.

Jacob Schläffel85

of St. Lorenzen;

Valthan his servant,

Paulus Rumer86

of St. Georgen and his brother;

Tilge Luegmairin executed in St. Lorenzen;

Conrad Mair of Sterzing and Madlen Stainerin87

of St. Georgen were executed in Bozen in the Adige.

Cunrathus Fiechter of Sterzing and Lamprecht88

from Filoss were executed in Sterzing.

Thomas [and] Balthasar89

were burned in Brünn.

Wilhelm of Kitzbühel90

was also executed in Brünn, burned.

Larentz Schwaigl91

of Kitzbühel was executed in Rosenheim in Bavaria.

Fridrich Schuester92

from Bretten and Wendel Maurer were executed in Bretten.

Hans Beck, Walser Schneider, Christian Alseider, Waltan [Gsäl], Hans Maurer, Peter Kranewetter93

were executed in Gufidaun and beheaded.

Lamprecht Gruber, Hans Taler, Lorenz Schuster, Peter Planer, Peter Hungerl,94

his servant were executed in Stertzing in 1532.

Ludwig Fest95

was executed in Schwatz in 1533.

Hans Donner and Hans Seydl96

were executed in St. Veit in Carinthia in 1538.

Hansl Weinberger from Freistadt, Madlen Frelichin from Enns, and Madlen97

von Steyer were executed in Freistadt.

Two apprentice shoemakers,98

both named Walser, were executed in Wels.

Hans Schuester from Steyer and Wolfgang Franck99

, a shoemaker’s apprentice, were executed in Steyer.

Hans Schuester100

from Linz; his wife and two shoemaker’s apprentices named Hans; Mathes Schuester and his wife, Madlena from Steyer; Steffan Scherer from Wels; Barbaria Mesnerin from Wels; Margreth Rastnerin from Linz and her mother, Madlena, from Rottenberg.

Michael Witteman was executed with the sword in Ehrenberg because of the divine truth.

Hans Kramer101

from Hälle; Jerg from Stain; Leonhart Bernkopff from Salzburg were executed in Salza.

Hanns Schuester102

from Braunöckhen was executed in Wasserburg.

Julion103

of Gmunden executed “ob der breydl” in Linz, Enns.

Hieronymus Käls104

from Kufstein, Michel Behm from Wallen, and Brother Hans Oberecker from the Adige were burned in Vienna in 1536.

Hans Wucherer105

was burned in Burghausen in Bavaria in 1538.

Bartlme Weber,106

Anthoni Schneider from Gunzenhausen, Blasy Beck (all three from Kaufbeuren), Hans Beck, and Leonhard Schmidt were executed with the sword in Vienna in Austria in 1546.

Hans Schuester was drowned secretly at night in Vienna.

Hans Pürchner107

from Saalen in Schlanders was executed in Vintschgau on the Friday before Candlemass.

Thaman N.108

was burned in Ingolstadt.

Wolf Mair109

and Wolf Huber were both executed with the sword because of the divine truth in Tittmoning on the Friday before St. Martin’s Day in 1559.

In 1580, Brother Klaus was in Switzerland. He lived for twenty-two years without any food.110

Johannes Raiffer111

was a servant of the Word in the Gospel. He led a Christian life. He was arrested in Aachen in the Netherlands but after much pain and suffering and assaults by monks, priests, and worldly tyrants was condemned to death. He testified valiantly to the truth with his blood and died in God the Lord. His four brothers and fellow believers were executed soon afterwards. They commended their souls to God. This took place in Aachen in the Netherlands in 1559.

Hans Mändel112

was a servant of the Word who performed Christian baptisms. He was extremely well educated. He suffered many varied trials by worldly tyrants and government officers, with great pain and suffering and [testified to] the truth. His two brothers and fellow believers named Jörg Rack and Eustachius Kotter were executed with the sword. The servant [Hans Mändel] was burned alive and the bodies of the other two were burned with him. They were like sheep led to the slaughter. They commended their souls to God the heavenly Father and died in God. Date: Innsbruck, June 10, 1561.

Klaus Felbinger113

was a servant of the word. He contributed many lovely teachings and several articles of faith, some of which have been written down. After various trials at the hands of the false teachers of law and pain and torture by government authorities, he and his brother Hans Leutner testified valiantly to the truth. They were executed with the sword in Landshut in Bavaria and died at peace with God in 1567.

Footnotes

1. The movie “Jakob Hutter und die Hutterer,” for example, graphically portrays her execution by drowning. –Louis Holzer, “Jakob Hutter und die Hutterer: Märtyrer des Glaubens“ (Lienz: Taura Film 2005).
2. Werner Packull, Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments during the Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), 198.
3. A transcript of her hearing is preserved in the Tiroler Landesarchiv, reproduced in full in Grete Mecenseffy, Quellen zur Geschichte der Täufer, XIV Band, (Heidelberg: Verein für Reformationsgeschichte 1983) [hereafter QGT XIV], 300-301; translated in Elfriede Lichdi, “Katharina Purst Hutter of Sterzing,” in Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-Century Reforming Pioneers, ed. C. Arnold Snyder and Linda A. Huebert Hecht (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1996), 184-185.
4. QGT XIV, 110 speaks of “Katherina, des Laurenntzen Präst aus Taufers tochter, and p. 300 of “Katharina, Lorentzen Purssts eeliche tochter.” Manfred Rupert, archivist at the Tiroler Landesarchiv, has shown that in both cases her father’s last name is spelled “Präst” (which would have been pronounced “Prast”). – Communication with Emmy Maendel, Nov. 2, 2017.
5. Valentin Luckhner’s testimony, Oct. 3, 1533. – QGT XIV, 169.
6. QGT XIV, 157. Rumer testified that he had been baptized by Jakob Hutter two years previous (i.e., 1531) at a conference in the Jaufen Valley near Sterzing. Three young women were baptized with him. Werner Packull suggests that Katharina was among them. – Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 241; based on Valentin Luckhner’s testimony. – QGT XIV, 170. It is more likely that it was only after Rumer’s own baptism that he tried to convince others to take the same step and that she was baptized later.
7. QGT XIV, 319, summary only. Quoted here from a copy obtained from the Tiroler Landesarchiv, Causa Domini, 1532-1536 [hereafter CD 1532-1536], 4:335v. Outgoing correspondence of the government in Innbruck to towns under its jurisdiction was copied into the Kopialbuchserie Causa Domini. See Wilfried Beimrohr, Das Tiroler Landesarchiv und seine Bestände (Innsbruck: Tiroler Landesarchiv, 2002), 72. – https://www.tirol.gv.at/fileadmin/themen/kunst-kultur/landesarchiv/ downloads/TGQ47.pdf. The entries do not include the name of the sender but simply an addressee. In QGT they are given as “Innsbruck – Regierung an … ” and translated here as “A government representative in Innsbruck to….”
8. QGT XIV, 97.
9. Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 241, draws the same conclusion.
10. QGT XIV, 255.
11. QGT XIV, 115. Lichdi (“Katharina Purst Hutter of Sterzing,”179), incorrectly states that Paul Gall and also Katharina recanted at this time in 1533; Gall’s recantation took place at an earlier imprisonment in April 1532. – QGT XIV, 52-53.
12. Valtin Luckner’s testimony. – QGT XIV, 169: “Als die Paul Gallin noch bey haus gewesen, haben sy die essende speis von ir genomen und in die walder getragen.“
13. QGT XIV, 110-111.
14. QGT XIV, 113 (summary only). Full text from CD 1532-1536, 100r – 100v. Erasmus Offenhauser’s name appears several times in connection with punishing Anabaptists. He would later escort Jakob Hutter from Klausen in South Tyrol to Innsbruck. QGT XIV, 306.
15. QGT XIV, 123-124.
16. QGT XIV, 300.
17. Paul Rumer testified in his interrogation in September 1533: “At the meeting in Gufidaun they decided that there were not enough leaders in Moravia. There is no one here who wants to repent, but in Thuringia and Hessen there are many who want to repent. Leaders were sent to these districts so that now there are not enough in Moravia. So Jakob Hutter went down [to Moravia] and said they should send the people down and leave the outcry here.” – QGT XIV, 158. See also Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 223.
18. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, Volume I, ed. and trans. Hutterian Brethren (Rifton, N.Y.: Plough Publishing House, 1987), 98 [hereafter Chronicle].
19. Although Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 241, suggests she traveled the following year, 1534.
20. Chronicle, 105.
21. Available in English as Peter Riedemann's Hutterite Confession of Faith, trans. and ed. John Friesen (Walden, N.Y.: Plough Publishing House, 2019).
22. Chronicle, 135.
23. It is, of course, theoretically possible that she became pregnant before her marriage. However, Hutter has never been accused of sexual misconduct, and given his prominent position, it is hardly conceivable that he would marry a woman who was carrying someone else’s child. Extramarital sex was sharply disciplined by the nascent Hutterian fellowship. See Chronicle, 93, for the case of Georg Zaunring’s wife and 215-216 for Christoph Gschäl.
24. Chronicle, 142.
25. See Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 240. Details are taken from the confessions of Katharina and others interrogated with her. –QGT XIV, 296-303. According to some sources, Wolf Zimmermann carried Hutter’s second letter back.
26. Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 242.
27. Ibid.
28. Die Hutterischen Epistel 1527 bis 1767 (Elie, MB: James Valley Book Centre 1986) [hereafter Hutterischen Epistel], 1:26.
29. QGT XIV, 276.
30. Diözesenarchiv Brixen, Akten 6428. "Der Jakob Huetter fuert sein weib mit imm, ist gross swanger, und taglich der geburd wartend, ob es halt schon nit beschehen sey. und hat sich in disem gericht Schonegg in Kindlpedtn zu legen einlassen wellen an Zwayen orten ist aber nit bestehen, daruff not ist, den Richtern zu schreiben, Ir frag allenthalten zuhaben wo indert ain arme dirn in Kindlpdtn lig. Dann wo sy jetz in Kindlpedtn ligt, wirdet er auff sein Zuezug daselbst sein Zueflucht haben und suechen.“ (transcription and conclusion confirmed by Manfred Rupert, TLA).
31. Hutterischen Epistel, 1:49.
32. Although Packull (Hutterite Beginnings, 254) questions this date, it is clearly spelled out in archival documents. – TLA, O.Ö. Kammer Kopialbücher Entbieten, 151:449. Hutter’s jailor sought to collect payment for eighty-seven days, counting from November 29. “Dear lords of the chamber, Jakob Hutter, the Anabaptist, was brought to the Roman emperor’s prison here in the Kreuter House on 29 November 1535 (last year), and now on February 25 (this month) was taken out and executed – and rightly so. The time that Hutter was in prison amounts to 87 days, and our servant Martin Hagler brought him food and drink all that time and he demands 12 kreutzer for every day. This comes to 17 gulden and 24 kreutzer. Please see that Martin Hagler is paid 17 G 24 K.” Manfred Rupert at the Tiroler Landesarchiv points out that the jailer’s name was “Hagler,” not “Hayler” as given by J. Loserth, Der Anabaptismus in Tirol von seinen Anfängen bis zum Tode Jakob Huter’s (Vienna, 1892) [Hereafter Loserth, Anabaptismus], 564. See also discussion in Hans Fischer, Jakob Huter: Leben, Froemmigkeit, Briefe (Newton, Kan.: Mennonite Publication Office, 1956), 48.
33. QGT XIV, 319, summary only. Full text from CD 1532-1536, 307r.
34. QGT XIV, 319, summary only. Full text from CD 1532-1536, 335v.
35. QGT XIV, 323.
36. CD 1532-1536, 407v-408.
37. Loserth, Anabaptismus, 565.
38. Die Hutterischen Epistlen 1527 bis 1763 (Elie, Man.: James Valley Book Centre 1991), 4:458. „Treindl“ is a common nickname for Katharina. In Jakob Hutter’s letter #7 he refers to “meine eheliche Schwester Treindl” Hutterischen Episteln, 1:53.
39. Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 255.
40. Loserth, Anabaptismus, 565; Fischer, 49; QGT XIV, 323; Packull, Hutterite Beginnings, 255; Lichdi, “Katharina Purst Hutter of Sterzing,” 183.
41. Josef Beck, Die Geschichts-Bücher der Wiedertäufer in Oesterreich-Ungarn 1526-1785 (Nieuwkoop, B. DE Graaf, 1967), [hereafter Beck], XXVII.
42. For a full description see Gottfried Seebass, Katalog der hutterischen Handschriften und der Drucke aus hutterischem Besitz in Europa (Heidelberg: Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, 2011), 181-204. A handwritten copy of this list, made around 1870, is also included in Josef von Beck’s papers in the Moravian State Archive in Brno. – G10 48, 104. Loserth may have used this copy rather than the original codex. In addition, Codex Cgm 5353 in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich contains a similar martyrology with an entry for “Treindl Hueterin” on leaf 16r. – see Seebass, 1064-1066. See also Günter Vogler, Thomas Müntzer – ein Märtyrer: Überlegungen zu einer bisher nicht edierten Handschrift (Mühlhausen: ThomasMüntzer-Gesellschaft e.V., 2019) for a discussion of this codex.
43. Hab. 6 in Archív mesta Bratislavy, 578r.
44. Written of Christina Häring, a woman executed in Kitzbühel in 1533, whose story is not included in the Chronicle; taken from codex R 414 in the University Library in Wroclaw, 95-96. See also Beck, 107, which includes the story but not this eulogy.
45. Hab. 6 in Archív mesta Bratislavy, pages 78v – 81r, 574v – 581r.
46. 1524 is generally accepted as the year of his execution. Some details here are not included in the Chronicle account. Cf. Die älteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brüder, ed. A. J. F. Zieglschmid (Ithaca, N.Y.: The Cayuga Press, Inc., 1943), 43-44 [hereafter ZGL]; Chronicle, 42; Beck, 14.
47. ZGL, 69-71; Chronicle, 65-66; Beck, 22-24.
48. ZGL, 58; Chronicle, 54-55; Beck, 25-26. Some details here are not included in the Chronicle account.
49. ZGL, 54-56; Chronicle, 51-53.
50. ZGL, 51-52; Chronicle, 49. See a second, more detailed, account below.
51. ZGL, 64; Chronicle, 60; Beck, 33-34.
52. Beck, 67-68.
53. ZGL, 259-260; Chronicle, 240-241.
54. The text reads “four brethren from Vienna “mit sambt dem sag” [meaning not clear]. ZGL, 265-267; Chronicle, 246-247. Their names were Hans Staudach, Anthoni Keim, Blasius Beck, Leonhard Schneider.
55. ZGL, 60-62; Chronicle, 56-58.
56. ZGL, 64; Chronicle, 60. This took place in 1529.
57. ZGL, 59-60; Chronicle, 55-56; Beck, 59-60.
58. Beck, 29.
59. Cf. Beck, 37. The story of these men is not included in the Chronicle. See Neff, Christian. "Clarenbach, Adolf (d. 1529)," Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. – https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Clarenbach,_Adolf_(d._1529)&oldid=117963 (accessed Aug. 18, 2021).
60. ZGL, 181-184; Chronicle, 169-172.
61. Beck, 48 (part of this account). Hubmaier’s story is told above, though with less detail. This account is more similar (but not identical) to that in the Thieleman J. van Braght, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians, (Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1951), 465. See Johann Loserth and William R. Estep Jr. "Hubmaier, Balthasar (1480?-1528)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1990. Web. March 25, 2022. – https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hubmaier,_Balthasar_(1480%3F-1528)&oldid =168030 for confirmation of many of the details included here.
62. Beck, 37, says this execution took place in 1528.
63. ZGL, 65; Chronicle, 61. Some details here are not included in the Chronicle account.
64. ZGL, 157; Chronicle, 142-146.
65. ZGL, 181-184; Chronicle, 168-172.
66. ZGL, 173; Chronicle, 161.
67. ZGL, 101; Chronicle, 94.
68. ZGL, 88-89; Chronicle, 53. [1529]
69. ZGL, 65-66; Chronicle, 61.
70. Beck, 280 fn.5.
71. Beck, 278 fn.3.
72. Beck, 57; Charius Binder, ZGL,66; Chronicle, 62. Peter Riedemann mentions Wolfgang Wimmer in a letter, ZGL, 176; Chronicle, 164.
73. Beck, 280 n.1 says “ist zu Ens gericht worden.” Beck cites Cod.N. – is Ens a copy error on his part?
74. ZGL, 173; Chronicle,162, [1537]; Beck, 132.
75. See QGT XIII, 497, 499.
76. ZGL, 260; Chronicle, 241, [1545].
77. Beck, 278 fn.1.
78. Beck, 278, fn. 2.
79. Leonard Seiler (Lanzenstiel)’s wife; ZGL, 200; Chronicle,187, [1539].
80. Valentin Luckner? See QGT XIII, 165-172. He was probably executed in 1533.
81. QGT XIV, 202, speaks of the execution of a Gregor Weber in January 1534.
82. QGT XIV records two “Otilia’s” – Otilia, wife of Valtin Luckner, executed September 1533 (153) and the wife of Balthasar Mairhofer (201).
83. Jakob Hutter’s wife. From the layout of the page, it is possible that these last nine were all executed at Schöneck.
84. Beck, 278 fn.4.
85. Beck, 278 fn.5.
86. Cf. QGT XIV, 157-161, Paul and Leonard Rumer, executed September 1533.
87. Beck, 278 fn.6.
88. See ZGL 103, Chronicle, 95 for Kuntz Fichter and Lamprecht Gruber (and others) executed in Sterzing in 1532. See also QGT XIV, 63, for Kunz Viechter, “Vorsteher und Säckelmeister,“ executed 1532.
89. ZGL, 63, Chronicle, 59. The Chronicle account speaks of “Thomas and Balthasar” and a companion named Dominicus who were executed in Brno in 1528. However Beck, 65, reports that Brother “Thoman Waldhauser” was executed in Brno with two others.
90. ZGL, 154-155; Chronicle, 141. Wilhelm Griesbacher, 1535.
91. Beck, 277 fn.3.
92. Beck, 279 fn.2.
93. ZGL, 104; Chronicle, 97 [1533].
94. ZGL, 102-103; Chronicle, 95.
95. ZGL, 104; Chronicle, 97.
96. ZGL, 193; Chronicle, 181.
97. Beck, 280 fn. 4.
98. Beck, 280 fn.3.
99. Beck, 280 fn. 2.
100. Beck, 280 fn. 6.
101. Beck, 151; for Leonard Bernkop, 1542, see Martyrs Mirror, 465.
102. MM, 465-466; Hans Schuster’s execution mentioned ZGL, 378; Chronicle, 348.
103. Beck, 280 fn.1.
104. ZGL, 158-160; Chronicle, 147-150.
105. ZGL, 185-186; Chronicle, 174-175.
106. ZGL, 265; Chronicle, 246. The names given here are: Hans Staudach von Kauffbeuren, Anthonj Keim, ein Schneider von Guntzenhausen, Blasi Beck and Leonhard Schneider, beide von Kauffbeuren. This is the second entry for this execution, see above.
107. ZGL, 346-347; Chronicle, 321 [1555].
108. Beck, 154 [1543].
109. ZGL 398-399; Chronicle, 367-368.
110. Possibly “Bruder Klaus” (Nicholas of Flüe), a hermit of Switzerland who is said to have eaten nothing. He died in 1487. –https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11062a.htm. The entry adds “sagt vil komffligen dring weys” – meaning unclear.
111. ZGL, 385-390. Chronicle, 354-363 (there called Hans Schmidt).
112. ZGL, 403-406; Chronicle, 372-376.
113. ZGL, 400-402; Chronicle, 369-371 (1560).