Melchior Hoffman or Hofmann (c.1495-1543) was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands. 1495 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events February 21 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeat the armies of Adal led by Ahmed Gragn. ... Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo re-baptizers, German: Wiedertäufer) were Christians of the Radical Reformation. ...

Life

He was born at Schwäbisch Hall in Franconia before 1500. His biographers usually give his surname as Hofmann; in his printed works it sometimes appears as Hoffman, and in his manuscripts as Hoffmann. Houses in the centre of Schwäbisch Hall, next to the river Kocher Schwäbisch Hall (or Hall for short) is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg; it is the capital of the district of Schwäbisch Hall. ... The Franconian Rake is originally is a heraldic symbol of the bishops of Würzburg, who - though nominally Dukes of Franconia - only ruled in parts of Franconia. ...

He was without scholarly training, and first appeared as a furrier in Livonia. Attracted by Luther's teachings, he came forward as a lay preacher, combining business travels with a religious mission. He worked as a lay preacher in the cities of Wolmar (from 1523), Dorpat and Reval. In Dorpat he became involved in an iconoclastic revolt, and the magistrates obliged him to go to Wittenberg to obtain Luther's approval of his preaching. After his return to Dorpat he was involved in more controversy and forced to leave the city. Estonia, Livonia and Courland from a 1740 map Livonia (Latvian: Livonija; Estonian: Liivimaa; German: Livland; Polish: Inflanty; Russian: Лифляндия or Liflandiya) once was the land of the Finnic Livonians, but came in the Middle Ages to designate a much broader territory controlled by the Livonian Order on the eastern coasts of... Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ... In religious organizations, the laity comprises all lay persons, i. ... Valmiera (population 27,323 as of 2002) is the largest city of Vidzeme region, Latvia with a total area of 18. ... Image of Tartu street Tartu (German, Polish Dorpat, Russian Юpьeв Yuryev) is the second largest city of Estonia, with its population of 101,246 (the Population Census data is from 2000) in an area of 38. ... The city of Tallinn is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia. ... Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ... Statue of Martin Luther in the main square Wittenberg, officially [Die] Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany, in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, at 12° 59 E, 51° 51 N, on the Elbe river. ...

After the same thing happened in Reval, he decided to go to Stockholm, Sweden, where he arrived in the autumn of 1526. Here too he was involved religious disturbances and so left Sweden again. The Old town in Stockholm from the air is the capital of Sweden, located on the south east coast of Sweden. ... Events January 14 - Treaty of Madrid. ...

After a short stay in Lübeck he made his way to Denmark, where he found favour with King Frederick I, and was appointed by royal ordinance to preach the Gospel at Kiel. He was probably the first printer in the city. He was extravagant in his denunciations, and developed a Zwinglian view of the Eucharist. ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... King Frederick I. Frederick I of Denmark and Norway (October 7, 1471 – April 10, 1533) was the son of the first Oldenburg King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1426-1481) and of Dorothea of Brandenburg (1430-1495). ... Kiel [keel, (help· info)] is a city in northern Germany and the capital of the Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein. ... Huldrych (or Ulrich) Zwingli (January 1, 1484 – October 11, 1531) was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, and founder of the Swiss Reformed Churches. ... The Eucharist or Communion or The Lords Supper, is the rite that Christians perform in fulfillment of Jesus instruction, recorded in the New Testament[1], to do in memory of him what he did at his Last Supper. ...

Luther himself was alarmed at this. At a colloquy of preachers in Flensburg on (April 8, 1529), Hoffman, John Campanus and others were put on their defence. Hoffman maintained (against the "magic" of the Lutheran interpretation) that the function of the Eucharist, like that of preaching, is nothing more than an appeal for spiritual union with Christ. Refusing to retract, he was banished. Flensburg (Danish: Flensborg, Low German: Flensborg, North Frisian: Flansborj) is an independent town in the North of the German state Schleswig-Holstein. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... For other people named Johannes Campanus, see Campanus. ...

Making his way to Strasbourg, he was well received, until his Anabaptist tendencies became apparent. He joined with the Anabaptists of the city, and, according to Estep, was rebaptized in April 1530. City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Land area 78. ... Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo re-baptizers, German: Wiedertäufer) were Christians of the Radical Reformation. ... Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ...

In May he travelled to East Frisia, where he baptized about 300 people and established churches. He was in relations with Schwenkfeld and with Karlstadt, but assumed a prophetic role of his own. In 1532 he founded a community at Emden, securing a large following of artisans. East Frisia (Ostfriesland) is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. ... Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (also as Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig) (1490-1561) was a Silesian nobleman who became a Christian Reformer and spiritualist. ... Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1486-1541), better known as Andreas Karlstadt, was a Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on river Ems. ...

Because of the prophecy of an old man foretelling six months in prison for him, he returned in the spring of the following year to Strasbourg, where there is reference to his wife and child. He gained from the Apocalypse the belief that the Lord would return there in 1533 and received a vision of "resurrections" of apostolic Christianity, first under John Hus, and now under himself. The year 1533 was to inaugurate the new era; Strasbourg was to be the seat of the New Jerusalem. Look up Apocalypse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Jan Hus (1369 Husinec, Southern Bohemia – July 6, 1415 Constance) was a religious thinker and reformer. ... New Jerusalem is the concept of Jerusalem (in the definite or indefinite sense) as being renewed or rebuilt, either in the present day or in the future, either at the Temple Mount or in a different location. ...

When however he prophesied that the return of Christ would be preceded by a purging of the ungodly, Hoffman was seen as a revolutionary. Under examination, he denied that he had made common cause with the Anabaptists and claimed to be no prophet but a mere witness of the Most High, but nevertheless refused the articles of faith proposed to him by the provincial synod. A synod (also known as a council) is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. ...

Hoffman's failed prophecy of the return of Christ contributed significantly to the Münster Rebellion (1533-1534), of which he is seen as one of the authors. Two of his followers, Jan van Matthijs and Jan van Leiden, proclaimed that Hoffman was wrong on the questions of the exact time and place, where Christ would return and reign, and named Münster as the correct location. The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a theocracy in the German city of Münster. ... Jan Matthys (also known as Jan Matthias, Johann Mathyszoon, et al. ... John of Leiden (Dutch: Jan van Leiden or Jan Beukelszoon, aka John Bockold) (1509? - 1536) was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. ... Town Hall in the Prinzipalmarkt Münster: the Prinzipalmarkt St Pauls Cathedral, Münster Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ...

As a consequence of the terror inspired by the rebellion and its savage suppression, Hoffman, together with Claus Frey, another Anabaptist, was detained in prison. Although the synod made a further effort to reclaim him in 1539, he stayed there for the rest of his life, until his death in 1543. Events May 30 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. ... // Events February 21 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeat the armies of Adal led by Ahmed Gragn. ...

Teachings and Influence

Hoffman was important in at least one aspect of the development of the Mennonites. He adopted the views of Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig concerning the incarnation of Jesus, and taught what has been called the "heavenly flesh of Christ". Menno Simons accepted this view, probably received from the peaceful Melchiorites Obbe and Dirk Philips, and it became the general belief of Dutch Anabaptists in the first century of their existence. The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist (Re-baptizers) denominations named after and influenced by the teachings and tradition of Menno Simons (1496-1561). ... Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (also as Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig) (1490-1561) was a Silesian nobleman who became a Christian Reformer and spiritualist. ... Jesus (8-2 BC/BCE– 29-36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ... Menno Simons (1496–1561) was an Anabaptist religious leader from the Dutch province of Friesland. ... Obbe Philips (ca. ... Dirk Philips (1504-1568) was an early Anabaptist writer and theologian. ...

Hoffman wrote a commentary on the Book of Daniel in 1526. Two of his publications with similar titles from 1530 ("Weissagung aus heiliger gotlicher geschrift" (Prophecy from Holy and Divine Scripture) and "Prophecey oder Weissagung vsz warer heiliger gotlicher schrifft" (Prophecy from True, Holy and Divine Scripture) are noteworthy as having influenced Menno Simons and David Joris. Bock treats him as an antitrinitarian, on grounds which Wallace rightly deems inconclusive. With better reason Trechsel includes him among pioneers of some of the positions of Servetus. His Christology was Valentinian: while all are elected to salvation, only the regenerate may receive baptism, and those who sin after regeneration sin against the Holy Spirit, and cannot be saved. The Book of Daniel, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is a book in both the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the Christian Old Testament. ... Events January 14 - Treaty of Madrid. ... Nontrinitarianism or antitrinitarianism is the doctrinal description applied to rejection of the Trinitarian doctrine that God subsists as three distinct persons in the Holy Trinity. ... Michael Servetus. ... Christology is that part of Christian theology that studies and defines who Jesus the Christ was and is. ... -Quevedo Valentinius, also called Valentinus (c. ...

His followers were known as Hoffmanites or Melchiorites.

References

Older (from 1911)

• Robert Barclay, Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth (1876)
• Friedrich Samuel Bock, Historia antitrinitariorum, maxime Socinianismi et Socinianorum (1776), ii.
• Hegler in Hauck's Realencyklopädie (1900)
• G. Herrmann, Essai sur la vie et les ecrits de M. Hofmann (1852)
• Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1880)
• Friedrich Trechsel, Die protestantischen Antitrinitarier vor Faustus Socin (1839) i.
• Robert Wallace, Antitrinitarian Biography (1850) iii., app. iii.
• Friedrich Otto zur Linden, M. Hofmann, ein Prophet der Wiedertaufer (1885)

An alleged portrait, from an engraving of 1608, is reproduced in the appendix to Alexander Ross, Pansebeia (1655). Robert Barclay (1648? - October 3, 1690), one of the most eminent writers belonging to the Society of Friends, or Quakers, was born in 1648 at Gordonstown in Morayshire. ... Heinrich Julius Holtzmann (May 7, 1832 - 1910), German Protestant theologian, son of Karl Julius Holtzmann (1804-1877), was born at Karlsruhe, where his father ultimately became prelate and counsellor to the supreme consistory. ... Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in german language. ... Robert Wallace (1773 - 1855) UK electoral franchise reformer and agitator for postal service reform; elected to Westminster Parliament as the member for Greenock, Scotland in 1832. ... Alexander Ross (c. ...

Modern

• Snyder, Arnold C. Anabaptist History and Theology
• Deppermann, Klaus. Melchior Hoffman: Social Unrest & Apocalyptic Vision in the Age of Reformation. ISBN 0567086542
• Estep, W Roscoe. The Anabaptist Story
• Williams, G.H. The Radical Reformation

External References

• "Melchior Hoffman" from Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.