Jacob Hutter

Jacob Hutter (or "Jakob Hutter") (born 1500, died February 25 1536), was a Tyrolean Anabaptist leader and founder of the Hutterites.

Jacob Hutter was a hat maker from South Tirol (northern Italy today). He became the leader of a radical Christian movement that swept through the German-speaking regions of Europe in the 1520s to 30s. Men and women broke away from the Roman Catholic church, which in their opinion had become corrupt and no longer gave them the spiritual nourishment they craved. Thousands had themselves baptized, a criminal offense which carried the death penalty. In Moravia (present-day Czech Republic) religious tolerance was granted. Here the Anabaptists, as they came to be called, gathered under Hutter’s leadership. They practiced the communal ownership of goods, nonviolence, and baptism of adult believers.

Jacob Hutter often traveled between Moravia and Tirol to preach and baptize. He was arrested on December 1, 1535 and taken to Innsbruck, where King Ferdinand had his government. There he was tortured and burned alive on February 25, 1536.

His words are recorded in eight letters, written under severe persecution, to his brothers and sisters.

Further reading

*"The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren" (Plough Publishing House 1987)
*"Brotherly Faithfulness: Epistles from a Time of Persecution" (Plough Publishing House 1979)
*"Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments during the Reformation" by Werner O. Packull, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995

External links

* [http://www.hutterites.org/ Homepage of the Hutterian Brethren]
* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/H887.html Jakob Hutter] in the "Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online"
* [http://www.jacobhutter.com/ Jacob Hutter Infopage] English Language
* [http://www.jakobhutter.de/ Jakob Hutter Infopage] German Language

Footnote

[1] Some sources say he was executed the same day.