Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

Notes

Notes Preface 1. Williams, Radical Reformation, 123. 2. See Verheyden, Anabaptism in Flanders, 1530–1650. 3. Terms for those who practiced believer’s baptism appeared in various forms, such as Täufer for Moravian Hutterites and for Swiss and German dissenters. In the Netherlands, they were known as Doopsgezinde (baptism-minded). Eventually, a prominent branch of Anabaptists came to be known as Mennonites. 4. Van Braght, Het Bloedigh Toneel. 5. Williams, ed., Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers, 84. 6. See CWMS, 31–50. 7. The name “Royal Prussia” was used to distinguish the region from “Ducal Prussia,” the remnant of the region once ruled by the Teutonic Knights. The term “Polish Prussia” was often used synonymously with Royal Prussia. Much of this area came to be known as West Prussia when Frederick the Great seized this territory in 1772. Frederick himself sometimes used the term “Polish Prussia” when he referred to Polish regions he had seized. 8. At this time, the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, consisted of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), the Senate (upper house), and the king. Chapter . A Haven in Troubled Times 1. In 1867 G. H. de Wilde wrote that the drama had been produced annually in Amsterdam since Vondel wrote it. Near the end of the drama, Gijsbrecht receives the following advice: “Zijn wil is, dat ghy treckt na’et vette land van Pruissen,/Daer uit het Poolsch geberght de Wijsselstroom koomt ruisschen,/Die d’oevers rijck van vrucht ge- 214 N notes to pages 1–10 M noeghelijck bespoelt. /Verhou u daer, en wacht tot dat de wraeck verkoelt. /Ghy zult in dit gewest een stad, Nieuw Holland, bouwen,/En in gezonde lucht, en weelige landouwen, /Vergeten al uw leet, en overbrogten druck; /Waer door uw naezaet klimt den bergh op van ‘t geluck.” (I have slightly revised the English translation of Kristiaan P. Aercke, in Joost van den Vondel.) 2.Vondel’swiderangeoffriendsandadmirersweredrawnfromabroadstratum of Amsterdam society. In 1641 he joined the Catholic Church. 3. In early modern times, the city regularly called itself “Danzig,” although the spelling varied, so I am using the contemporary name, which persisted until the end of World War II. 4. For a discussion of the relevant political transformations, see Friedrich, The Other Prussia. 5. Verheyden, Anabaptism in Flanders. 6. Van Braght, Het Bloedigh Toneel. 7. MacCulloch, Reformation, 371. 8. Joris was an Anabaptist contemporary of Menno Simons (ME, II, 17–19). 9. HStaD, BJB, 239a, 134–135. 10. This bold assertion of independence, with its rationale for rejecting tyranny and insisting on a significant measure of political liberty, stands as a pioneering document in asserting the right to self-rule. For an English translation of the Dutch Declaration of Independence, see Peter J. Klassen, ed., The Reformation: Change and Stability, 66–70. 11. APG, 300, 19 (Pfahlkammerbücher). 12. Schildhauer, “Handelsbeziehungen,” 24. 13. Harder-Gersdorff, “Lübeck, Danzig und Riga,” 119. 14. Ibid., 121. 15. Christensen, Dutch Trade to the Baltic, 405. 16. Harder-Gersdorff, “Lübeck, Danzig und Riga,” 121; see also Fedorowicz, ed., Republic of Nobles. 17. Christensen, Dutch Trade to the Baltic, 415. A last is approximately 4000 pounds. 18. Bogucka, “Zur Problematik der Profite,” 43. 19. Bogucka, Das alte Danzig, 97. 20. Bogucka, “Danzig an der Wende,” 94. 21. The resolution stipulated that if “eyn gemeine in eyner anzestadt mit dem ardoeme und ketterschen leere der wedderdoper edder sacramenterer bossmittet und behaft were und darinne heharrede,” it was to be excluded from all commercial activity of the Hansa until corrective action had been taken (Friedland and Wentz, HR, 83). 22. Ibid., 24, 25. N notes to pages 10–15 M 215 23. This becomes evident when it is noted that Danzig Lutherans failed in efforts to exclude Calvinists from full equality in the city, as in efforts to exclude them from the city council or possession of churches. 24.ThedukedecreedthatAnabaptistswhorefusedtoleaveweretobedeprived of life and property (Tschackert, Urkundenbuch, I, 203; see also II, 324, 326). 25. Ibid., III, 94. 26. APG, 358/132 (translated by the author). 27. Urkundenbuch des Bisthums Culm, 887. It must be noted that the king often issued statements prepared by his advisors. He also was often friendly to Mennonites and let them settle on crown lands. Part of this confused understanding of Mennonites arose because some ardent opponents of non-Catholics, such as Bishop Hosius, sometimes simply lumped dissidents into one category and dismissed them all as heretics and M...