Platzer, Jacob (d. 1591)

Imprisonment of Jacob Platser, 1591. Engraving by Jan Luiken in Martyrs Mirror, v. 2, p. 779 of Dutch edition.
Scan provided by Mennonite Library and Archives

Jacob Platzer, of Prad in the Vintschgau, Tyrol, Austria, an Anabaptist martyr, a locksmith, was seized together with three other Anabaptists, Sier, Mareez, and Rauchenpüchler, on 6 May 1585, by Jost Tausch, called Aichele, who was hunt­ing down the Anabaptists (see Lienz). At his cross-examination he refused to name those who had lodged him. The four men had been sent by the Hutterian Brethren in Moravia to Tyrol to visit the Anabaptists there and to win new converts for Mo­ravia. On 5 July Platzer recanted, as the others also did before and after him. He explained that it was not the doctrine, but only the life and con­duct of the Anabaptists that attracted him. He en­joyed his freedom for a long time; on 19 June 1591, he was again arrested in the village of Sillian in eastern Tyrol, having apparently again adopted Anabaptism. During the eight weeks of his imprisonment he could not be persuaded to recant. He accepted his death sentence "with good cheer"; "he was not at all sorry to have to die for his faith." His steadfast martyrdom is the theme of the hymn, "Ir liebhaber der Warheit guet, lasts euch erzellen mit freiem muet" (with 30 stanzas).

Bibliography

Beck, Josef. Die Geschichts-Bücher der Wiedertäufer in Oesterreich-Ungarn. Vienna, 1883; reprinted Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1967: 308-10.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doops-gesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: Part II, 779.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1082. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 377 f.

Kripp, J. N. von. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer in Tirol (Das achte Programm des II. Staatsgymnasiums zu Inns­bruck, 1857): 3-60.

Lieder der Hutterischen Brüder. Scott­dale, 1914: 790.

Loserth, J. Der Anabaptismus in Tirol I and II (Vienna, 1892-93).

Wolkan, Rudolf. Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer. Berlin, 1903. Reprinted Nieuwkoop : B. De Graaf, 1965: 236.

Wolkan, Rudolf. Geschicht-Buch der Hutterischen Brüder. Macleod, AB, and Vienna, 1923: 434.

Zieglschmid, A. J. F. Die älteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brüder: Ein Sprachdenkmal aus frühneuhochdeutscher Zeit. Ithaca: Cayuga Press, 1943: 562.

Author(s)	Paul Dedic
Date Published	1959

Cite This Article

MLA style

Dedic, Paul. "Platzer, Jacob (d. 1591)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Platzer,_Jacob_(d._1591)&oldid=146025.

APA style

Dedic, Paul. (1959). Platzer, Jacob (d. 1591). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Platzer,_Jacob_(d._1591)&oldid=146025.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 189. All rights reserved.

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