Heretics or Nonconformists? State Policies toward Anabaptists in Sixteenth-Century Hesse

Abstract

Although much research has been accomplished in the field ofAnabaptist history, experts' primary interest has focused on the period from the 1520s to 1540s. Comparatively little has been written about the changing nature of the relationship between Anabaptists and local authorities across the sixteenth century. An illuminating series of events during the 1570s in the landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg, however, offers an excellent case study and opportunity for comparison. As the 1570s witnessed the renewal of orthodox Lutheranism, it is no surprise that part of this renewal called for a firm and well-defined stance against Anabaptism. Landgrave Ludwig IV engaged himself and his state in Lutheran confessionalism and, in 1578, utilized available means to remove Anabaptists from Hesse-Marburg. His action served primarily as a political statement motivated by confessional considerations and became one of many steps taken by Ludwig to convert his territory to Lutheran orthodoxy.