Wullenwewer, Jürgen (1492-1537)
Jürgen Wullenwewer (1492-1537), a Hanseatic statesman, a native of Hamburg, was elected as a member of the council of Lübeck in 1533, and 14 days later as mayor. He strove to re-establish the political supremacy of Lübeck on the Baltic Sea; but after the Danish victory in the Battle of Assens (11 June 1535), when the rule of the democracy in Lübeck collapsed, Wullenwewer resigned in August 1535, but continued to be interested in Nordic politics. The Lutheran superintendent Bonnuns demanded Wollenwewer's expulsion on the ground of his supposed intention of introducing Anabaptism in Lübeck; Wullenwewer was accordingly arrested in November 1535 and consigned to the zealously Catholic Duke Henry the Younger. Under torture Wullenwewer "confessed" that he had had connections with the Anabaptists. How far these "confessions," which are still extant, correspond with reality must be the subject of further investigation. He was sentenced to death and beheaded on 29 September 1537. Wullenwewer's fate has been treated by Kohler in a novel, and by Gotzkow and Heinrich Kruse in dramas.
Bibliography
Handelmann, Heinrich. Die letzten Zeiten hansischer Uebermacht im Skandinavischen Norden. Kiel, 1853.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: v. IV.
Kupisch K. in Furche No. 24, 1938, presents a brief sketch of Jürgen Wullenwewer, seeing tragedy in the entanglement of religion and politics;
Paludan-Müller, Caspar. Grevens Feide I and II. Copenhagen, 1853-54.
Stolze, W. "Ueber die Bedeutung des Bauernkrieges fur die deutsche Geschichte," in Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch. XLIX (1930) 189-97.
Waitz, Georg. Lübeck unter Jürgen Wullenwewer und die europaische Politik, 3 vols. Berlin, 1855-56.
Wipf, J. Reformation Geschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Schaffhausen. Zurich and Leipzig, 1929: 175 f.
| Author(s) | Christian Hege |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hege, Christian. "Wullenwewer, Jürgen (1492-1537)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wullenwewer,_J%C3%BCrgen_(1492-1537)&oldid=86274.
APA style
Hege, Christian. (1959). Wullenwewer, Jürgen (1492-1537). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wullenwewer,_J%C3%BCrgen_(1492-1537)&oldid=86274.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 991. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.