Europe in the Age of the Reformation

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The Anabaptists

Menno Simons

While one branch of the Anabaptists emerged from Zürich and Switzerland, another emerged from Holland. The most notable leader of this branch was Menno Simons (1496-1561). He was born in Friesland, just to the east of Holland. He was a peasant's son and was trained to the priesthood. He broke away from the Church in 1531 when he examined the question of rebaptism after hearing of a Hollander who was executed for it. A little later he came into contact with the radical Anabaptists who were going to Münster. His own brother, Pieter, was killed in the fall of the city, at the Battle of Bolsward, in 1535.

The violence at Münster precipitated a spiritual crisis in Simons. He was baptized again in 1536 and from the start he rejected violence in all forms and circumstances. He quickly emerged as a leader, and by the mid-1540s the Dutch Anabaptists were being called Mennonites. Better educated than Jakob Hutter, Simons did leave behind a body of writings, but like Hutter is main contribution was as a founder and organizer of a church. He kept the Dutch Anabaptists together during a time of persecutions, and he made pacifism a central tenet.

He lived a somewhat itinerant life, living near Hamburg for a time, in East Friesland, the Rhineland, as well as trips to Danzig and to the Netherlands. Not only did he write a great deal, he also established an Anabaptist press, which helped circulate his own and others' writings. He died in 1561, never having had to endure capture and torture.