Oetting (Freistaat Bayern, Germany)
Oetting (today Altötting) was a town in Upper Bavaria, Germany, a famous pilgrimage resort. In 1555 the Anabaptist Hans Mändl, who was executed on 10 June 1561 at Innsbruck with Eustachius Kotter and Jörg Rack, was working in this region.
During the period of persecution many Anabaptist refugees fleeing on the Inn River from Tyrol to Moravia were arrested here. In 1578 Andree Schlosser and Adam Schneider were thus imprisoned; after they had been racked and remained constant, they were mocked with the comment that they were not like the apostles, or God would free them from prison. The guard, wishing to make an escape impossible, placed on his feet the heavier lock, which Andree had hitherto worn on his hands and which he could not open without the use of both hands, and placed on his hands the lighter lock, which he could open with one hand. The heavier lock, now on Andree's feet, the keeper attached to a chain which he drew through an opening in the door into the anteroom, the better to secure Andree. After a prayer Andree found a nail and succeeded in opening both locks, and after another prayer he was also able to release Adam Schneider from his bonds, since the keeper had forgotten to lock the heavy door between them. With praise and thanks for God's assistance they escaped over the city wall during a thunderstorm.
The Anabaptist prisoners who refused to return to the Catholic Church were executed. According to a compilation of the Hutterian Brethren of 1581 seven Anabaptists died a martyr's death in Oetting.
Bibliography
Beck, Josef. Die Geschichts-Bücher der Wiedertäufer in Oesterreich-Ungarn. Vienna, 1883; reprinted Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1967: 227.
Wolkan, Rudolf. Geschicht-Buch der Hutterischen Brüder. Macleod, AB, and Vienna, 1923: 182, 389-391.
Zieglschmid, A. J. F. Die älteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brüder: Ein Sprachdenkmal aus frühneuhochdeutscher Zeit. Ithaca: Cayuga Press, 1943: 233, 503-505.
Their confession is found in:
Archiv für Reformationsgeschicte 26 (1929): 161-166.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 326 f.
| Author(s) | Christian Hege |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hege, Christian. "Oetting (Freistaat Bayern, Germany)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 18 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oetting_(Freistaat_Bayern,_Germany)&oldid=144516.
APA style
Hege, Christian. (1959). Oetting (Freistaat Bayern, Germany). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Oetting_(Freistaat_Bayern,_Germany)&oldid=144516.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 21. All rights reserved.
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