1. See Keller's, Ludwig articles in Gemeindeblatt der Mennoniten, Sinsheim, Elsens, 1886, p. 70Google Scholar; 1890, p. 85. Mentionitische Blätter, 1890, p. 113.Google Scholar

2. Zschäbitz, Gerhard, Zur mitteldeutschen Wiedertäuferbewegung nach dem grossen Bauernkrieg (Berlin, 1958), pp. 122–140.Google Scholar

3. Williams, George H., The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia, 1962), pp. 27–37.Google Scholar

4. Dickens, Arthur Geoffrey, Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1509–1558 (London, New York, 1959).Google Scholar

5. On the heresy of the Free Spirit see: Grundmann, Herbert, “Religiöse Bewegungen im Mittelalter.” Historische Studien, Heft 267 (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar. Cohn, Norman, The Pursuit of the Millenium (Fair Lawn, N. Y. 1957)Google Scholar. Erbstösser, Martin and Werner, Ernst, Ideologische Probleme des mittelalterlichen Plebejertums; die freigeistige Häresic und ihre sozialen Wureln (Berlin, 1960).Google Scholar

6. Jundt, Auguste, Histoire du pantçisme populaire au môyen age et au seizième siécle (Paris 1875), pp. 120–162.Google Scholar

7. On these groups in Switzerland see: Kessler, Johann, Sabbata, ed. by historiseher Verein des Kantons St.Gallen, unter Mitwirkung Egli, von E. und Schoch, R. (St. Gallen, 1902)Google Scholar. Vadianus, , Deutsche Schriften, ed. Göttzinger, Ernest (St. Gallen, 1875–1879)Google Scholar. Bullinger, Heinrich, Der Wiedertoufferen ursprung … (Zürich, , ed. 1611), pp. 23b, 32b–22a.Google Scholar

8. Professor Oskar Pfister. See Peachey, Paul, Die Soziate Herkunft der Schweizer Täufer in der Reformationszeit (Zürich, 1954), pp. 77–78.Google Scholar

9. In Zollikon near Zürich, too, a young woman, Margarete Höttinger, who formerly had been an Anabaptist, declared herself to be God in 1526. She also had ecstatic experiences. She, too, made interesting claims such as that whoever prays commits a sin. Unfortunately we do not know more about this girl.

10. The documents relating to the Dreamers were published by Schornbaum, Karl, Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer, II. Band, Markgrafentuin Brandenburg, Bayern I. Abteilung (Leipzig, 1934), pp. 220–330.Google Scholar

11. Dreamers were discovered in the following towns and villages: Uttenreuth: 9 persons Alterlangen: 3 Erlangen: 4 Weier: 2 Tennenlohe: 1 Leutenbach: 1 Sieglitzhof: 2 Pcmmer: 2 Herzogenaurach: 4 Kalchreuth: 4 Wolfsfeld: 6 Rosenbach: 1 Crainthal: 16 Locality unknown: 2

12. How was faraway Crainthal affected by this sect? In 1530 Anabaptism had been preached at Crainthal by Marx Mair of Alterlangen who in 1531 became one of the leading “Dreamers.” When the three daughters of Barthel Kern of Crainthal fled from their village because of their Anabaptist belief, Marx Mair 's brother Hans arranged jobs for them with friends of his in the environment of Erlangen, among others with Hans Schmid at Uttenreuth. Soon Schmid “married” one of the girls, Elisabeth. The other, Apolonia, became the wife of Marx Mair, the third, Katharina, that of Hans Mair. When after a while the girls returned to Craiuthal, Hans Schmid followed them and apart from cultivating his relationship with his new wife, converted the rest of the Kerns and two other families to his belief.

13. Some members of the sect were subjects of the bishop of Bamberg. We do not know what happened to them.

14. The fate of those imprisoned at Creglingen is not known.

15. Karl Schornbaum, op. cit., p. 307.

16. Karl Schornbaum, op. cit., p. 319.

17. Ibid., p. 255.

18. Some Dreamers gave a somewhat rational explanation by saying that the present state of marriage did not conform to the Scriptures. Instead of being one flesh, husband and wife were split by discord and quarrels.

19. Eight of the men and seven of the women had already been married before, eight men and nine women were still single. Further, twenty-six Dreamers had not engaged in any new sexual relations, as far as we know.

20. Under torture, a few Dreamers made ambiguous statements which might be interpreted as a chiliastic tendency. Thus two men declared that God would punish the world and establish His realm on the earth. Another talked of a siege of Nurnberg by a foreign people. God would root up all plants which He had not planted. It would be the turn of the rich and the learned. Another said that the faithful would flee to five cities, which signified the five generations from Abraham to Christ. Karl Schornbaum, op. cit., pp. 311, 314, 229, 279.

21. Ibid., pp. 228, 307.

22. Ibid., pp. 212, 320.

23. On Fry, see: Quellen zur Geschichte der Täufer, Band VIII, Elsass, II. Teil. Stadt Strassburg 1533–1535, ed. Krebs, Manfred and Rott, Hans Georg (Gütersloh, 1960)Google Scholar.

Quellen zur Geschichte der Täufer. Band V. II. Abteilung, Bayern, ed. Schornbaum, Karl (Gütersloh, 1951), pp. 186–188Google Scholar. Quellen zur Geschichte des Bauernkrieges in Rothenburg an der Tauber, ed. Baumann, Franz (Tübingen, 1878)Google Scholar, Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, Vol. 139.

Born at Windsheim, Fry had settled as a furrier at Rotheuburg. Here he gained so much esteem that he was elected into the Aussere Rat. When during the revolutionary disturbances the Aussere Rat was dissolved on March 27, 1523, he was made a member of the revolutionary committee, the Ausschuss. Fry soon distinguished himself by his intransigent radicalism, clashing violently with the conservative members of the Innere Rat. Even in May 1525, after practically all peasant armies had been routed he advocated the alliance of Rothenburg with the Helle Haufen at Heidingsfeld.

In a list (drawn up after the crushing of the revolution) of 63 rebellious burgers who had most defied and threatened the ruling class, Fry ranked in first place. Understandably enough he had fled from the city. Having imposed an extremely heavy fine of 100 fl. on him, the Town Council banished him for all time from the city.

Claus Fry's brother Bartholomäus had been all through the revolution a member of the reactionary Innere Rat. At Bartholomäus' request Claus was accepted as a burger by the town of Windsheim in 1527. Here he seems to have lived in easy material circum.stan. ces. See Franz Baumann, op. cit., pp. 85, 144, 149, 155, 315, 541, 545, 558, 616.

24. On Pfersfelder, Georg, see Mennonitisches Lexikon, vol. III (Frankfurt 1956), p. 359Google Scholar. It might be mentioned in addition that the Pfersfelders appear in the records of the city of Nürnberg since 1494. Georg seems to have been an Amtmann at the castle of Neideck during the Peasant Uprising. His own castle at Mittelweilersbach was burned down by the peasants in 1525. In 1527 he bought a house at Nurnburg without, however, becoming a citizen. Impressed by Anabaptist teaching Pfersfelder is said to have resigned from his military command at Nürnberg in 1532.

25. Manfred Krebs, op. cit., p. 324.

26. Ibid., p. 325.

27. Ibid., p. 121.

28. Ibid., p. 327.

29. Ibid., p. 208.

30. Ibid., p. 328.

31. Ibid., pp. 327–328.

32. Ibid., p. 275.

33. Haupt, Hermann, Die religiösen Seicten in Fran ken vor der Reformation (Würzburg, 1882), p. 607.Google Scholar

34. Haupt, Hermann, “Ein Beghardenprozess in Eichstädt von Jahre 1381.” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 5 (1882).Google Scholar

35. Haupt, Hermanu, Die religiösen Sekten., p. 10.Google Scholar

36. The Anabaptists at Windsheim had had close contact with those at the nearby village of Crainthal who shortly afterwards became Dreamers. Indeed, the Windsheim. Anabaptists seem to have known what was going on at Uttenreuth. In mid-April, 1531, they gave hints to the authorities at Ansbach about the sexual promiscuity practiced by Schmid and his friends. Evidently they were interested in clearing themselves in advance.

37. The sources on the Bloodfriends can be found in Wappler, Paul, Die Täuferbewegung in Thüringen von 1526–1584 (Jena, 1913), pp. 480–494Google Scholar. See also pp. 189–206.

Hochhuth, K. W. H., “Landgraf Philipp und die Wiedertäufer.” Zeitschriftfür die historische Theologie, Vol. 29 (1859), pp. 182–196Google Scholar.

Urkundliche Quellen zur Hessischen Reformationsgeschichte. Vol. IV, Wiedertäuferakten, 1527–1626, ed. Franz, Günther (Marburg, 1951), pp. 324–327.Google Scholar

38. Hochhuth, op. cit., p. 196.

39. “Ausschreiben hem Bastian Thielenitzigen pfarhern zu Tutteroda vorm Meissner.” Published in Günther Franz, op, cit., pp. 324–327. Adam Weisse 's account was published by K. W. H. Hochhuth, op, cit., pp. 189–196.

40. Bloodfriends were discovered in the following towns and villages: Tüngeda: 1 Langula: 14 Niederdorla: 1 Mühlhausen: 6 Kraula: 24 Etterwinden: 2 Holungen: 1 Konnefeldt: 2 Wendershausen: 2 Ewenshausen: 1

41. K. W. H. Hochhuth, op. cit., p. 187.

42. Günther Franz, op. cit., p. 325.

43. Paul Wappler, op. cit., p. 485. Also deposition of Bach, Klaus, Staatsarchiv Marburg, 22 a 1, p. 12.Google Scholar

44. Deposition of Schuchart, Georg, Staatsarchiv Marburg, 22 a 1, p. 12.Google Scholar

45. Sebastian Thiele; see K. W. Hochhuth, op. cit., pp. 187–188.

46. Hochhuth, op. cit., pp. 189–196.

47. Menius, Justus, Von den Blutfreunden aus der Widertauf. Zu Erfurdt truekts Geruasius Sthuermer zu den Bunten Lawen. 1551. (A copy in Sterling Library of Yale University).Google Scholar

48. Norman Cohn briefly mentions that the Bloodfriends belong to the tradition of the heresy of the Free Spirit. Cohn, Norman, The Pursuit of the Milleniurn (Fair Lawn, N. J., 1956), p. 174.Google Scholar

49. The documents on Hans Thou have been published by Wappler, Paul, Die Täuferbewegung in Thüringen von 1526–1584 (Jena, 1913), pp. 484–522Google Scholar. However, Wappler did not realize that Thon professed Catharian ideas.

50. See Paul Wappier, op. cit., pp. 336–344: The forty “Anabaptists” at Spaffla, 1532. Günther Franz, op. cit., pp. 296–301 Curt Saurmilch, 1543. Ibid., pp. 180–184: Hans Both's doctrines. Ibid., p. 153: The “mad” Anabaptist at Haun, 1537. Ibid., p. 236: The Anabaptist at Grünberg, 1540. Unfortunately Ruth Weiss does not even mention these heretical trends in her study of Hessian Anabaptism. Weiss, Ruth, “Die Herkunft der osthessisehen Taufer,” Archiv für Reforinationsgeschichte, 50 (1959)Google Scholar. Weiss, Ruth, “Herkunft und Sozialansehauungen. der Täufergemeinde im westlichen Hessen.” Archiv. für Reformationsgeschichte, 52 (1961).Google Scholar

51. Hartmann 's deposition was published by von Döllinger, Ignaz, Beiträge zur Sektengeschiehte des Mittelalters, Vol. 2 (München, 1878), pp. 384–389.Google Scholar

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53. H. G. Förstemann, op. cit., pp. 165–171: articles of flagellents at Sangerhausen. 1414, March 21; pp. 278–291: protocol of interrogation of twelve flagellants at Nordhausen, July 1414; pp. 181–182: interrogation of Berthold Schadt, 1481, May 9.

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55. On Thiele see Hutteroth, Oskar, “Die althessischen Pfarrer der Reformationszeit.” (Veröffentlichungen der Hessischen Koinmission für Hessen und Waldeck, XII, 1953–1958), p. 367Google Scholar. Thiele was Prädikant at Niederdorla from 1528 to 1532, pastor of Dudenrode and Hilgershausen in Hesse from 1532 to 1562. However Hütteroth fails to mention that in 1543 Thiele was again minister at Niederdorla for some time.

56. Wappler, Paul, Die Ste flung Kursachsensund des Landyraf en Philip von Hessen zur Tauferbewegung. (Munster i.W. 1910, Reforrnationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte, Hft 13/14), p. 235.Google Scholar

57. Ibid., pp. 227–230: letter of Justus Menius to Landgraf Philip of Hese, August 12, 1543.

58. At the request of his parishioners at Dudenrode and Hilgershausen Thiele was once more dismissed in 1562 on the ground of incompetence and laziness. Hütteroth, op. cit., p. 367.

59. Herwig, M., “Aus der Geschichte der ganerbschaftlichen Vogtei Ober-und Niederdorla and Langula vor dem Hainich.” Mühlhäuser Geschichtsblätter, 5, pp. 5–13.Google Scholar

60. On Stiefel see, Realencylclopäddie für protestantiscite Theologie und Kirche, ed. A. Hauck, Vol. XIX (1907), pp. 21–24.Google Scholar

61. I am working on a sociology of the left wing of the German Reformation in which this problem will be investigated.