Europe in the Age of the Reformation

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The Anabaptists

Melchior Hoffman

The other great branch of Anabaptism ran down the Rhine River. Strassbourg was a refuge to religious radicals of all stripes, and Anabaptists gathered here along with others. By 1533, Capito and Bucer (leaders of the reform in Strassbourg) were agreed in opposing the Anabaptists, but by that time there were about 2,000 Anabaptists in a city of perhaps 20,000.

Melchior Hoffman was one of the principals responsible for spreading Anabaptists along the lower Rhine. Like so many others, he was hounded by the civil authorities everywhere, yet everywhere was able to spread the faith. He created thousands of followers in Holland and the other Low Countries before he was imprisoned at Strassbourg in 1533.