A True Christian Church · Our Anabaptist history
A connected history of faith, discipleship, and community. Follow the Radical Reformation and its branches, and read the witnesses preserved in Martyrs’ Mirror.
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The Emperor Theodosius, not content with having, together with his co-emperor, Honorius, A. D. 413, threatened the aforesaid Anabaptists with death, seems to have finally been seduced so far as to endeavor to compel the orthodox believers to assent to the very absurd errors of…
Read the storyHans Langmantel, a wealthy citizen and of noble descent, during the re-establishment of the churches in Germany, received with his man-servant and maid-servant the truth of the Gospel, and, kindled with zeal, they believed the truth, forsook their sinful life, and were baptized…
Read the storyGreat persecutions of the believers, A. D. 1206.
Read the storyIn Questions and Answers.
Read the storyMatthijs Binder, a minister of the word of God, was apprehended for his faith and the testimony of Jesus Christ, at Neffen, in the country of Wurtemberg, and taken to Stuttgart, and thence imprisoned in chains at Maulbronn, where he was much examined and disputed with, by the…
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Read the story300 histories · showing 300 · present to beginnings
The photographed account connects Amish homes, schools, work, marriage, and burial with a shared life shaped by Christian conviction and community tradition.
A community rebuilding after fire or disaster makes visible the mutual care that the photographed history associates with Christian love.
The final globe scene joins the future of the church with the call to make God’s love in Jesus Christ known through both the gospel and practical service.
The worship scenes present Amish, Hutterite, and Mennonite communities gathering in different settings while sustaining a shared life of faith.
The source map records a widening geographical horizon while leaving individual local histories to their own documented timelines.
The present-day story includes communities across continents and many different traditions. Local histories, migrations, mission, and relationships between churches are part of the record still being gathered.
Mennonite Church USA formed in 2002 through the union of U.S. congregations of MC and GC.
Mennonite Church USA formed in 2002 through the union of U.S. congregations of MC and GC.
The exhibit’s Mennonite Brethren in Christ line developed into United Missionary Church and joined a union in 1969.
Daniel Gerber’s alternative service and Ruth Wilting’s hospital work brought them to Vietnam, where Gerber disappeared after capture and Wilting was later killed.
The Canadian Kleine Gemeinde adopted the name Evangelical Mennonite Conference in 1960.
The Canadian Kleine Gemeinde adopted the name Evangelical Mennonite Conference in 1960.
Merlin and Dorothy Grove served in education in Somalia; after Merlin’s killing and Dorothy’s injury, their mission colleagues offered a witness of love and forgiveness.
The Rudnerweider church adopted the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference identity on 1 July 1959.
The Rudnerweider church adopted the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference identity on 1 July 1959.
Two Mennonite seminaries built an academic partnership that gradually became one institution at Elkhart.
Mennonite Brethren established a graduate seminary for church leadership and later joined its Fresno operation to Fresno Pacific University.
A winter Bible school at Pleasant View Mennonite Church became a continuing work of Bible study and preparation for Christian service at Rosedale, Ohio.
A broad family of Mennonite fellowships maintaining distinctive church practices, with several different conference histories.
Bethel in Mishawaka arose from Mennonite Brethren in Christ efforts to establish Christian higher education.
The Volendam carried displaced Mennonites toward refuge in South America after the Second World War, with Peter and Elfrieda Dyck helping lead the transports.
Mennonite Biblical Seminary revived General Conference theological education in Chicago and prepared the way for cooperation at Elkhart.
Winnipeg’s Mennonite Brethren Bible College developed ministerial and academic education before becoming Concord College and joining CMU.
A small Mennonite Brethren Bible institute in Fresno developed a wider college program while retaining Christian education at its center.
The chart’s 1943 Grace institution is the Mennonite-founded Bible institute at Omaha, later Grace University.
Canadian Mennonite Bible College grew from wartime planning into a Winnipeg institution for theological and church education.
A renewal movement among Sommerfeld Mennonites organized as the Rudnerweider church in 1937.
A renewal movement among Sommerfeld Mennonites organized as the Rudnerweider church in 1937.
Columbia Bible Institute united Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Bible-school work in British Columbia.
Mennonites organized international cooperation to support conscientious objectors and strengthen their peace witness.
Swift Current Bible Institute trained congregational workers and brought together several western Canadian Mennonite educational efforts.
A series of revival meetings in Pennsylvania developed into a continuing place of worship, Bible teaching, and fellowship.
Goshen’s Bible department developed graduate ministerial study before joining a shared Mennonite seminary campus at Elkhart.
Steinbach’s Bible school developed from congregational classes into an inter-Mennonite institution for Christian service.
Jacob Siemens led a group of more than two hundred Mennonites across the frozen Amur River into China in December 1930.
Elim provided Bible teaching and preparation for congregational service through several institutional forms in southern Manitoba.
The Beachy Amish history began with a 1927 division in an Amish congregation in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
The Amish congregation associated with Moses Beachy divided in 1927 in Somerset County.
The Beachy Amish history began with a 1927 division in an Amish congregation in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Harold S. Bender and the Mennonite Historical Society established a lasting forum for Anabaptist and Mennonite historical research.
The first Mennonite World Conference gathering was held in Basel in 1925. Later assemblies form part of the story of worldwide Anabaptist fellowship.
A global fellowship established in 1925 to connect Anabaptist churches across national and tradition boundaries.
Beulah College became Upland College, a Brethren in Christ educational community whose work later joined Messiah.
The Bruderhof began in Germany in 1920. Its communal history later connected with the Hutterite tradition and developed its own community story.
Canadian Mennonites organized relief and immigration assistance for families affected by revolution, famine, and displacement.
Clayton Kratz was one of the early Mennonite relief workers sent to communities suffering in the aftermath of revolution in Russia.
Eberhard Arnold, a Protestant theologian, founded the Bruderhof with Emmy Arnold and Else von Hollander in 1920. They left Berlin for Sannerz after the devastation of the First World War.
Else von Hollander was one of the three founders of the Bruderhof at Sannerz in 1920, alongside her sister Emmy Arnold and Eberhard Arnold.
Emmy Arnold co-founded the Bruderhof in 1920 with her husband Eberhard and her sister Else von Hollander. Their first community was at Sannerz in Germany.
Mennonite Central Committee began in 1920 as a cooperative response to hunger among communities in Ukraine.
Mennonite Central Committee began in 1920 as a cooperative response to hunger among communities in Ukraine.
Sannerz was the German village where the Bruderhof began in 1920.
Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, together with Else von Hollander, founded the Bruderhof in Germany in 1920.
Wartime hostility and the costs of refusing military participation helped drive Hutterite colonies toward new homes in Canada.
Joseph, Michael, and David Hofer and their brother-in-law Jacob Wipf suffered imprisonment after refusing military participation as Hutterite conscientious objectors.
The chart follows Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren communities through revolution, war, repression, and migration in the Soviet period.
Dutch Mennonite gatherings and brotherhood houses grew from a desire to renew shared spiritual life.
A mission begun in 1917 established a center at Pehuajó and became part of the growth of Mennonite congregational life in Argentina.
Peter and Elfrieda Dyck served displaced people through Mennonite Central Committee and helped lead Mennonite refugee transports to South America.
Witmarsum organized a shared Mennonite theological school at Bluffton before its assets supported a later seminary at Chicago.
Planning in 1911 was followed by the arrival of the first Congo Inland Mission workers in 1912.
Peter M. Friesen gathered documents and historical interpretation into a major account of Russian Mennonite church life.
Ministers meeting at Pigeon, Michigan, formed the Conservative Amish Mennonite Conference in 1910; its history continues as Rosedale Network.
Hesston developed a Mennonite academy and Bible school into a college serving congregations and students in the western United States.
The Brethren in Christ founded Messiah as a Bible and missionary school that developed into a broader Christian university.
Tabor College joined Mennonite Brethren Christian formation with broad education at Hillsboro, Kansas.
Freeman’s Mennonite school expanded from elementary and secondary education into teacher training and a junior college.
Bible courses and open fellowship on Mennonite estates contributed to the Allianz-related church organized in 1905.
The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite gathered at Lone Tree, Kansas, and recorded a common confession of faith.
Pennsylvania's Martinite fellowship became the shared historical background of the Weaverland or Horning and Groffdale or Wenger conferences.
Abraham and Miriam Friesen were sent from the Mennonite Brethren in Russia to begin mission work in India.
A West Reserve Mennonite church associated with Bergthal migration and later colony and renewal movements.
A newspaper founded in Sugarcreek helped Amish and Mennonite communities remain in contact through local letters.
A fellowship organized in North America in 1889, later named the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches.
Woolwichers was a local name for Ontario Old Order Mennonites associated with Bishop Abraham Martin and the division of 1889.
Gretna’s Mennonite school grew from teacher preparation into a residential Christian secondary institution.
The Brethren in Christ began Evangelical Visitor to share teaching, news, and the work of congregations separated by distance.
Mennonite communities founded colleges and church schools to join academic learning with faith, congregational life, and preparation for service.
The exhibit’s Mennonite Brethren in Christ line developed into United Missionary Church and joined a union in 1969.
Der Zionspilger carried the life of Swiss Mennonite congregations into a wider German-reading community, including readers in America.
Halstead’s Mennonite school prepared students for teaching and church service before its work passed to Bethel College.
Preserved minutes document an 1882 conference concerned with ministry, publishing, mission, and common church discipline.
The younger Claas Epp led an eastward migration in 1880 while expecting a place of refuge before Christ’s return.
General Conference Mennonites began mission work among several Native American peoples in the American West.
Prosperous settlements faced revolution, hunger, and displacement, drawing Mennonite congregations into coordinated relief and renewed migration.
Reinländer congregations formed a distinct Old Colony church history after migration to Manitoba.
The Bergthal migration to Manitoba’s East Reserve in 1874–1876 established the Chortitzer church history.
Hutterite communities began migrating from the Russian Empire to North America in the 1870s after changes affecting military exemption and community life.
Migration to Manitoba in the 1870s shaped several distinct Mennonite church histories.
Military-service changes and the search for secure community life contributed to migration from the Russian Empire.
Two Mennonite aid committees united to help families travel from the Russian Empire and establish new homes in North America.
Two scouts investigated North American farmland before the major migration from the Russian Empire.
A dispute over discipline separated Joseph Stuckey and several Illinois congregations from the wider Amish fellowship.
Old Order Mennonite fellowships developed through several regional divisions beginning in the later nineteenth century.
Old Order Mennonite fellowships developed through several regional divisions beginning in the later nineteenth century.
Daniel Brenneman and John F. Funk conducted a series of meetings that became an early milestone in Mennonite Church revivalism.
The Wisler name connects the Indiana–Ohio Old Order beginnings with a later conference that retained the name after a further division.
Wadsworth’s short-lived school joined biblical instruction, languages, and practical work in an early General Conference project.
Henry Egly’s Amish reform movement developed into the Defenseless Mennonites and later the Evangelical Mennonite Church.
John Fretz Funk’s newspaper served the Mennonite Church for forty-four years before joining Gospel Witness to form Gospel Herald.
Publisher and Mennonite leader whose Elkhart work circulated periodicals, historical books, and practical help for immigrants.
The first Amish meetinghouse in Holmes County became part of wider debate about congregational change.
An early General Conference minister who traveled among congregations to encourage fellowship, mission, and education.
A Mennonite conference shown on the exhibit’s North American timeline; its U.S. congregations joined in forming Mennonite Church USA in 2002.
The Mennonite Brethren arose through renewal among Mennonites in the Russian Empire. The tradition later developed across national boundaries.
Old Order Amish identity developed during nineteenth-century disagreements over conference organization and changes in church life.
Renewal within Mennonite communities in the Russian Empire contributed to the formation of the Mennonite Brethren in 1860.
John Holdeman and others began worshiping separately in Ohio in 1859, forming a distinct Mennonite church history.
John Holdeman and others began worshiping separately in Ohio in 1859, forming a distinct Mennonite church history.
Jakob Mannhardt’s periodical joined historical remembrance, Christian instruction, and news from scattered Mennonite congregations.
Mennonites near the Crimean War cared for wounded people while declining active military service.
John H. Oberholtzer’s German-language newspaper opened a durable channel for teaching and communication between American Mennonite congregations.
A Dutch mission association helped begin a Mennonite mission in Java with support across national boundaries.
A Pennsylvania division over conference order and cooperation produced the fellowship later known as Eastern District Conference.
Swiss Mennonite congregations continued through local worship, new meetinghouses, shared conference work, and the preservation of their community records.
Congregations in Waterloo County introduced organized Sunday instruction alongside the worshiping life of the church.
The Bergthal colony’s migration to Manitoba became the background of the Chortitzer and Sommerfeld church histories.
John Holdeman gathered a separate fellowship after a religious awakening and a call to preach in Ohio.
Molotschna leader associated with agricultural improvement, settlement development, and the society marked on the timeline in 1817.
A reform movement in the Molotschna settlement that began in 1812 under Klaas Reimer and later developed different national histories.
A reform movement in the Molotschna settlement that began in 1812 under Klaas Reimer and later developed different national histories.
The Molotschna settlement was the setting of Kleine Gemeinde and Mennonite Brethren beginnings.
A distinct North American Mennonite fellowship led by John Herr from 1812.
The Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit brought Dutch Mennonite congregations into a shared association in 1811.
Amish and Mennonite families formed new settlements across the expanding American Midwest.
Samuel Frölich’s preaching gathered believers from Reformed and Mennonite backgrounds into a new church community.
The Chortitza settlement became the Old Colony within the Mennonite history of the Russian Empire.
Old Colony history connects the Chortitza settlement with later migrations and a wider family of colony-based Mennonite churches.
Communities established in the Russian Empire developed several church traditions and later migrated to the Americas and elsewhere.
Communities established in the Russian Empire developed several church traditions and later migrated to the Americas and elsewhere.
Jonas Stutzman’s life joined pioneer settlement, teaching, and an intensely personal expectation of Christ’s return.
Scouts, wagon journeys, and new villages linked Prussian Mennonites to settlements in the Russian Empire.
Revolution, conscience, and the search for farmland contributed to Mennonite and Amish settlement in Canada.
A disagreement over allegiance and support for the American Revolution divided Pennsylvania Mennonites and left a long search for reconciliation.
Christian Nafziger explored a Canadian settlement and recruited Amish Mennonite families to establish homes there.
A revival among Pennsylvania Mennonite communities contributed to the gathering of the River Brethren.
A Pennsylvania movement with Anabaptist and Pietist roots that emerged between 1775 and 1788.
The Hoorn minister whose 1766 confession circulated among Dutch and German Mennonite congregations.
Arrest and compulsory religious instruction disrupted Hutterite communal life in Austria and Hungary.
The Hochstetler family’s ordeal at Northkill became a remembered test of refusing violence in the face of danger.
The Ephrata printing of Martyrs’ Mirror carried the memory of faithful witnesses to German-speaking readers in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania schoolmaster whose teaching, illustrated writing, and School Management joined learning with Christian formation.
A log meetinghouse gave the Germantown Mennonites a settled place for congregational worship.
Alexander Mack helped gather believers at Schwarzenau for baptism and a shared life ordered by the New Testament.
The Schwarzenau Brethren represent a related movement shaped by Anabaptism and Pietism, beginning with the baptisms at the Eder River in 1708.
A group baptized in the Eder River at Schwarzenau began a movement shaped by both Anabaptist convictions and Pietism.
Johannes Nafziger supported Amish congregations through personal assistance and written guidance for ministry.
Bounties, confiscation, hidden worship, and forced migration shaped the lives of Swiss Anabaptists in the early eighteenth century.
The older Mennonite Church in North America developed from Swiss and German congregational histories.
Dutch Mennonites worshiped in meeting places whose outward appearance was restricted even as congregational life continued within.
Amish history grows from the Swiss Anabaptist tradition and the disagreements associated with Jakob Ammann. The later story includes migrations and distinct fellowships.
Jakob Ammann was a Swiss Anabaptist leader concerned with spiritual renewal, separation from the world, and the practice of church discipline. Disagreement over the ban and shunning contributed to the division of 1693, and his followers came to be called Amish.
Disagreement over communion, church discipline, and relations with sympathetic outsiders divided the Swiss Brethren.
The 1683 Germantown settlement opened an important North American chapter in Mennonite migration.
Pennsylvania connects early Mennonite migration with later congregational and fellowship histories.
Pennsylvania offered Mennonites and other persecuted communities a place to worship and establish new homes.
The Lamb and Sun names remember an Amsterdam division and the later reunion of its congregations.
Thieleman J. van Braght’s collection preserved accounts of Christian witnesses and Anabaptist martyrs, along with letters, confessions, and reflections.
Thieleman J. van Braght gathered the accounts, letters, confessions, and exhortations that make up Martyrs’ Mirror. He organized Christian witness century by century, bringing the testimony of the early church and medieval believers together with the sufferings of the Anabaptists.
The supplied overview describes an Anabaptist commission at Bern in 1659 and increasing pressure on Swiss Brethren to conform or leave. Arrest, removal, and the loss of a settled home continued the persecution into a period beyond many of the book’s individual martyr accounts.
The end of some executions did not end the coercion of Anabaptist believers; forced labor and exile continued.
William Rittenhouse joined Mennonite pastoral service to the trade of papermaking in early Pennsylvania.
Andreas Ehrenpreis took leadership after a period of great disruption in Hutterite community life. The supplied overview dates his election as bishop to 1639 and describes his work to restore the fellowship’s order and discipline.
Dordrecht, called Dort in the supplied edition, connects the confession of faith drawn up on 21 April 1632 with the later work of Thieleman J. van Braght. The introductory line of the Third Confession identifies the gathering and its date.
The Third Confession printed near the beginning of Martyrs’ Mirror identifies itself as a statement drawn up at a peace convention at Dort on 21 April 1632. Its eighteen articles set out a shared confession of Christian faith and practice.
Old Flemish congregations retained separate church relationships while other Dutch groups pursued union.
Waterlander teacher and collector whose 1615 martyr history helped prepare the way for Martyrs’ Mirror.
Hans Landis was a Swiss teacher who continued ministering when the Zürich authorities ordered him to stop. Martyrs’ Mirror describes his arrest, release from an earlier imprisonment, renewed examination, and execution by beheading in September 1614.
The account of Hans Landis in Martyrs’ Mirror shows that persecution of Swiss Anabaptists continued into the seventeenth century.
John Smyth and John Robinson led English religious refugees to the Netherlands in 1607–1608. The supplied overview follows their communities to Amsterdam and, in Robinson’s case, to Leiden in 1609.
The supplied overview follows attacks on Hutterite communities during the wars that afflicted Moravia and the surrounding lands from the beginning of the seventeenth century. It describes killing, captivity, plunder, and the loss of homes and communal resources.
Dutch Mennonite refugees established a congregation at Altona under privileges that protected worship and trade.
FROM 1600 TO 1660.
Read the 17th-century accounts →Mennonites at Krefeld established a community whose weaving and trade brought a measure of protection.
Migrations connected Swiss and South German Anabaptist communities with European refuges and later congregations in North America.
Hans Haslibacher was an older Swiss believer brought before the authorities at Berne. Martyrs’ Mirror recounts his imprisonment, examination, and steadfast refusal to renounce the faith he had confessed.
Asperen in Holland is the setting of Dirk Willems’s imprisonment, flight across the ice, rescue of his pursuer, and recapture. Martyrs’ Mirror gives the local setting as part of the account of his faith and suffering.
Dirk Willems was imprisoned at Asperen in Holland in 1569. Martyrs’ Mirror recounts that he escaped, crossed the ice, and turned back when the man pursuing him fell through it. His rescue of the pursuer cost him the opportunity to get away.
Martyrs’ Mirror recounts how Dirk Willems turned back to rescue a pursuer who had fallen through the ice. He was recaptured and later executed.
An Amsterdam boatman made room for persecuted believers to encourage one another from Scripture, and was condemned for his faith.
Flemish Mennonite communities formed one of the Dutch branches during sixteenth-century disagreements over discipline and congregational life.
A Dutch Mennonite branch that developed in Friesland and also took root in West Prussia.
Hutterite communities in Moravia developed schools, religious writing, agriculture, and skilled crafts. The institutional Hutterite history identifies 1565–1592 as a flourishing period, with communal work supporting the life and teaching of the congregations.
The supplied overview describes the beginning of an official Hutterite chronicle in 1560 at Austerlitz in Moravia. The work gathered accounts of the community’s beginnings, leaders, migrations, and suffering for preservation by later generations.
During the winter of 1553–1554, Mennonites at Wismar helped Reformed refugees whose ship had become ice-bound. The supplied overview remembers practical assistance across a difference of confession.
Leenaert Bouwens was ordained as an elder by Menno Simons at Emden in 1551, according to the supplied overview. His ministry involved travel, preaching, and baptism among congregations from East Friesland to Flanders.
The High Germans connected South German and Rhineland believers with Dutch congregations and efforts toward reconciliation.
A Dutch Mennonite stream associated with Waterland, with a confession of faith in 1577 and a distinctive approach to church discipline.
The supplied history overview describes a period of renewed pressure on the Hutterites from 1547 to 1552. An imperial edict forced believers from communal homes in the regions of Moravia, Austria, and Hungary.
Martyrs’ Mirror remembers Maria and her sister-in-law Ursula refusing to abandon Christ and praying for those who condemned them.
Mennonite communities in the Vistula region linked Dutch Anabaptist histories with later migrations into the Russian Empire.
Mennonite settlements in the Vistula region linked Dutch congregations with later migration to the Russian Empire.
Anna Jans is the woman remembered in the supplied edition as Anna of Rotterdam. The account preserves the testament she gave to her son Isaiah on 24 January 1539, as she prepared to die for her faith.
Innsbruck is the place where Jakob Hutter was executed on 25 February 1536, according to the Hutterite institutional history. The event belongs to the period when he led and organized believers moving between Tyrol and Moravia.
Jakob Hutter led Anabaptist believers from Tyrol toward refuge in Moravia and helped organize their shared life. The Hutterite history dates his election as chief elder to 1533 and his execution at Innsbruck to 25 February 1536.
Jakob Hutter was executed in Innsbruck in 1536. His leadership and organization helped give the Hutterite tradition its lasting name.
The Jorists appear in the Dutch portion of the chart as a distinct movement whose teachings nonresistant witnesses examined against Scripture.
Menno Simons was a former Dutch priest who became an influential Anabaptist teacher. The Mennonite name preserves his association with the communities he helped strengthen; it does not make every later branch the work of one founder.
The supplied overview connects Menno Simons’s study of Scripture with his decision to leave the priesthood and identify openly with the Anabaptists. It dates his public commitment to 30 January 1536.
The Batenburgers’ separate line in the chart supplies context for the accusations of religious violence that peaceful Anabaptists had to answer.
The Ausbund grew from hymns written by imprisoned believers. The supplied overview dates the core prison songs to 1535–1540 and the earliest printed collection it describes to 1564.
In 1534–1535, leaders at Münster proclaimed the city a new Jerusalem and organized an armed religious community. The supplied overview names Jan Matthijs and Jan van Leyden and follows the siege, the fall of the city, and the punishment of its leaders.
Sicke Snyder received baptism upon his faith and was imprisoned at Leeuwarden in Friesland. Martyrs’ Mirror describes his refusal to abandon that confession under pressure and his death by the sword.
Ulrich Stadler helped lead refugee communities and explained the spiritual meaning of shared possessions.
Leupold Scharnschlager cared for believers across borders after losing his home for joining the Anabaptists.
Mennonite history includes Dutch, Swiss, German, and later worldwide communities. Shared roots coexist with differences in worship, practice, organization, and relationships.
A community of Anabaptist refugees in Moravia began sharing their possessions. This practice became a defining feature of Hutterite life.
Hutterite history centres on gathered Christian communities and community of goods. Its migration story links Moravia, eastern Europe, and North America.
Moravia provided a setting for Anabaptist refugee communities and the development of Hutterite common life.
Balthasar Hubmaier appears in the supplied Nikolsburg overview as a teacher who allowed the sword to political rulers, in contrast with believers who rejected participation in violence. The disagreement forms part of the background to the separation of the Stäbler group.
Felix Manz helped shape the early Zürich fellowship and shared its conviction that baptism should follow faith. Martyrs’ Mirror calls him Felix Mantz and describes his preaching, imprisonment, and death by drowning at Zürich.
Felix Manz was drowned in Zürich on 5 January 1527. His story is central to the memory of persecution among the Swiss Brethren.
Michael Sattler is associated with the seven Schleitheim Articles of 1527, which address baptism, church discipline, the breaking of bread, separation, shepherds, the sword, and oaths. They set out a shared order of discipleship for the gathered brethren.
Anabaptist refugees found protection around Nikolsburg under the Lords of Liechtenstein. The supplied overview describes a large fellowship whose members disagreed about the use of the sword and payment of war taxes.
The 1527 gathering at Schleitheim produced seven articles of agreement for Anabaptist church life.
The Schleitheim Articles set out seven points of agreement for a gathered Anabaptist community, including baptism, communion, church discipline, and refusal of the sword.
Hans Hut carried Anabaptist preaching across South Germany and Austria before dying in imprisonment at Augsburg.
The supplied overview names Bolt Eberli among the earliest Swiss Brethren to lose his life for his faith. It recounts his preaching at St. Gall, arrest, and death by burning on 29 May 1525.
Conrad Grebel belonged to the Zürich circle that sought a church ordered by the teaching and practice of the New Testament. On 21 January 1525, after prayer, he baptized George Blaurock upon his confession of faith. Blaurock then baptized the others who were present.
George Blaurock asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him at the Zürich gathering of 21 January 1525 and then baptized the others present. The act expressed their commitment to become a fellowship of believers following Christ together.
Pilgram Marpeck joined civic experience, practical work, and written teaching in the service of Anabaptist congregations.
Believers’ baptism, discipleship, brotherly love, a gathered church, and nonresistance stand at the center of this history.
St. Gallen became an early centre of believers’ baptism as public Scripture readings led townspeople to examine faith and the shape of the church.
The Swiss Brethren emerged in the context of the Zürich baptisms and early Swiss Anabaptism. Later Swiss Mennonite and Amish histories share this background.
Anabaptism developed in several regions during the Radical Reformation, including Switzerland, South Germany and Austria, and the Netherlands.
On 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock at a gathering associated with Felix Manz in Zürich. This is a central starting point for Swiss Anabaptist history.
Zürich was the setting of the 1525 believers’ baptisms and Felix Manz’s execution in 1527.
Lay Bible study in Zürich brought believers together around the Scriptures before the baptisms of 1525. The supplied overview dates these beginnings to 1522 and follows the participation of Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, with George Blaurock later joining them.
Peter Riedemann expressed the faith of the Hutterite brotherhood through confessions written amid persecution.
Dirk Philips served with Menno Simons and wrote extensively about baptism, new birth, church order, and discipleship.
[The following Part of the Martyrs Mirror, was not originally written by van Braght, but was the outgrowth of a compilation from different authors, and published in different editions, which from time to time were enlarged and improved. The original book, as appears from the…
Read the 16th-century accounts →Hans Denck’s teaching and writing influenced the early Anabaptist movement in South Germany.
Obbe Philips helped gather the early Dutch movement before withdrawing from its ministry around 1540.
Melchior Hoffman spread Anabaptist teaching in northern Europe and spent years imprisoned in Strasbourg.
Stephen was an elder of the Waldenses who had sought refuge in Austria amid persecution in and around Bohemia. Martyrs’ Mirror recounts his arrest at Vienna and his refusal to abandon either his faith or the people entrusted to his care.
Vienna is the setting of the death of Stephen, an elder of the Waldenses, in Martyrs’ Mirror. His community had sought safety in Austria after persecution in and around Bohemia.
Norwich is the setting of the accounts of William White, Abraham of Cholchester, and John Waddon. Their 1428 witness is accompanied by sections on the order for arrest, their confession, and imprisonment.
William White appears with Abraham of Cholchester and John Waddon in Martyrs’ Mirror’s account of witnesses at Norwich in 1428. The surrounding sections preserve the royal order for their arrest, their confession, and the account of their imprisonment and death.
John Huss is discussed in Martyrs’ Mirror’s fifteenth-century account of faith and baptism. It relates how Jerome of Prague brought Wickliffe’s writings from England into Bohemia and sets out the articles Huss received from them, including opposition to oaths.
Martyrs’ Mirror calls this English teacher John Wickliffe and places a discussion of his teaching at 1370. It describes his service at Lutterworth and considers his writings on baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the authority of Scripture, and the swearing of oaths.
Gerard Sagarellus of Parma appears in Martyrs’ Mirror alongside Dulcinus in the discussion of those whose beliefs were associated with the Waldenses. The account emphasizes his refusal to abandon his confession under condemnation.
Peter Waldo was a wealthy citizen of Lyons whom Martyrs’ Mirror describes as moved to repentance after the sudden death of a companion. He gave generously to the poor and began teaching Scripture in the language understood by the people who came to hear him.
Henry of Toulouse was a disciple and fellow teacher of Peter Bruis in Martyrs’ Mirror’s account. The source presents their preaching together, including the conviction that baptism should follow belief.
Peter Bruis preached in France against practices he judged contrary to the gospel. Martyrs’ Mirror describes his rejection of infant baptism and his teaching that baptism belongs to believers, alongside his objections to the mass, images, and pilgrimages.
Berengarius appears with Bruno of Angiers in Martyrs’ Mirror’s accounts of teaching about baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The book follows the condemnation of their views and Berengarius’s repeated examinations before church councils.
Orleans is the setting of the account of fourteen witnesses, with Stephen named as their chief figure. The narrative places the proceedings near the close of 1022 or at the latest in 1023.
Martyrs’ Mirror recounts the condemnation of fourteen people at Orleans, naming Stephen as their chief figure. The account discusses accusations concerning baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and other beliefs, and records their execution in the presence of King Robert.
Eugenia is named in Martyrs’ Mirror among the Christians who suffered in the region of Cordova. The account describes her as a faithful Christian woman who was beheaded for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Johannes Erigena, also called Scotus in the source, is remembered for learning, translation, and teaching concerning the Lord’s Supper. Martyrs’ Mirror describes his opposition to transubstantiation and connects his writings with the later convictions of Berengarius.
Cordova is a recurring setting in the ninth- and tenth-century accounts. John’s witness in 850 is followed by other named Christians, including Eugenia near the city in 923.
John was a tradesman at Cordova accused of insulting Mohammed. Martyrs’ Mirror says the witnesses were insufficient to secure a death sentence, but he was severely beaten, publicly mocked, and imprisoned because he would not forsake Christ.
Clement joined Albert of Gaul in opposing teachings and ceremonies they believed contrary to the gospel. Martyrs’ Mirror describes them as companions in doctrine and follows Clement’s attempt to answer the charges brought against him.
Adrian appears in Martyrs’ Mirror’s seventh-century discussion of baptism. A letter attributed to Gregory the Great accuses him of ordering that infants should not be baptized, and the book places the proceedings about the close of 606.
Arnold preached the gospel in a forest near Paris. Martyrs’ Mirror records that he was killed there in 511 and that his wife buried him at the place of his death.
Albanus is a fifth-century teacher in Martyrs’ Mirror’s account of the spread of the gospel. He came to Mentz to preach Christ and was killed with others, the heading giving the year 424.
Eulalia’s account belongs to the fourth-century persecution narratives. Martyrs’ Mirror describes her open confession of the one true God before the magistrates and her refusal to take part in idol worship at Emerita, also named Merida in the text.
Perpetua and Felicitas are remembered together in the third-century accounts. Martyrs’ Mirror describes them as Christian women of Tuburbi in Mauritania, one nursing a child and the other pregnant when they were imprisoned.
Blandina appears with Maturus, Sanctus, and a youth from Pontus among the Christians persecuted on the Rhône. Martyrs’ Mirror describes her confession of Christ as the source of her strength through repeated torments.
The Rhône accounts preserve the witness of Blandina and her companions; the medieval account returns to Lyons in the story of Peter Waldo. The place links two distinct periods of Christian witness.
Polycarp was a teacher of the church at Smyrna whom Martyrs’ Mirror describes as a disciple of the apostle John. The account opens with Christ’s encouragement to the church in Revelation 2 and presents Polycarp as a shepherd who remained faithful in suffering.
Ignatius served the church at Antioch in Syria. Martyrs’ Mirror describes him as a disciple of John and a diligent shepherd whose teaching centered on Christ. Arrested under Trajan, he was sent under guard to Rome.
The first-century baptism section recalls Saul’s baptism after Ananias came to him, and the wider account follows Paul’s ministry through repeated suffering. His letters and example give the book a language of endurance, service, and hope in Christ.
Rome connects the accounts of Peter and Paul under Nero with the later journey and death of Ignatius under Trajan. Martyrs’ Mirror gives 69 for the apostolic accounts and 111 for Ignatius.
Peter appears in the first-century baptism passages as a preacher at Pentecost and as a witness to the reception of the gospel in the household of Cornelius. The account joins repentance and baptism with the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gathered life of believers.
Stephen was one of the seven chosen to serve the church at Jerusalem. Martyrs’ Mirror follows Acts 6–7: his wisdom in dispute, the accusations against him, and his testimony before the council about God’s dealings with his people.
The history begins with Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. The supplied opening overview places Calvary and the empty tomb at the heart of the story, with the risen Christ presented as Lord and Savior.
Acts begins this history with the preaching of Christ, repentance, baptism, fellowship, prayer, and care for one another. Martyrs’ Mirror’s first-century account brings together the baptisms at Pentecost, in Samaria, of the Ethiopian, of Saul, and in other households and communities.
That is, from the first year of the ministry of Jesus Christ to the year 100.
Read the 1st-century accounts →That is, from the death of Christ to the year A. D. 100.
Read the 1st-century accounts →Jerusalem is the setting of the Pentecost preaching and the gathered community described in Acts. The first-century source passages connect baptism with teaching, fellowship, prayer, and the care of believers for one another.
