Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

CHAPTER 3. The Challenges of Urban Settings

N chapter 3 M The Challenges of Urban Settings E arly modern Danzig, proud and prosperous, exerted a powerful influence far beyond its immediate environs. This status is evident in the way Danzig’s city council dealt with requests from nations of other religious persuasions. Even after Lutheran teachings gained a dominant position in the city, strong ties with the Catholic Church continued .1 Churches of a number of monastic orders remained Catholic; parish churches became Lutheran. Relations among the city council, ecclesiastical leaders, and the crown were often tense and never unimportant. When, largely because of Danzig’s trading connections with the Netherlands , England, and Scotland, the Reformed movement tried to establish its independent congregations within the city, the council quickly sensed the potential challenge to its authority. In 1612, it declared that these newcomers would not be allowed to hold any administrative offices in the city.2 When the council also resisted giving the Reformed one of the numerous churches in the city, King Sigismund III intervened and demanded that the Church of the Holy Trinity be made available to adherents of the Reformed confession.3 The council agreed, but it is worth noting that the States General of the Netherlands was fully prepared to intervene if it felt that adherents of the Reformed faith, often Dutch, were being treated unfairly.4 Because Danzig conducted far more trade with Amsterdam than with any other trading center, it is not surprising that a request from the Netherlands was accorded high priority. N the challenges of urban settings M 49 Such incidents also demonstrate that Danzig, having won the right to conduct its own international affairs, regarded itself fully the equal when dealing with foreign cities and capitals. Nor did the city fathers hesitate to take a firm position if they felt a foreign country was trying to exercise undue influence on Danzig’s internal affairs. When the States General of the Netherlands urged Danzig to make another church available to adherents of the Reformed position, the city council refused, noting that the Reformed already had a church in that vicinity, and since the Lutherans did not, they should have the one under question. In view of Danzig’s strong economic ties to Amsterdam, the reply indicated a measure of confidence and civic pride that could resist external pressure.5 Both in Poland and on the international scene, Danzig demonstrated a self-assurance that other cities envied. Similarly, as an influential member of the Hansa, the city helped to shape international commercial policies. The strong commercial ties between Danzig and the Netherlands, as well as the economic, especially agricultural opportunities provided by conditions in the Vistula Delta, presented attractive opportunities for Mennonites being persecuted in numerous parts of Europe. At the same time, the negative public opinion generated by some radical movements raised concerns about the coming of religious nonconformists. Even before Mennonites began coming to Danzig, authorities issued warnings and protests regarding Anabaptists coming from the Netherlands to Royal Prussia and warned of “the error and teaching of the Anabaptists.”6 At the same time, Anabaptists in Ducal Prussia were threatened with “loss of life and property.”7 The savage persecution of Anabaptists, especially in the Netherlands and northern parts of Germany, as depicted in The Martyrs Mirror, explains why so many were willing to hazard a voyage in hope of finding a new home. ThelivelytradebetweenDanzigandnumerousDutchandotherNorth European cities provided the possibility for settling in the Vistula Delta. Carriage traffic also provided an opportunity to move to another area. Existing records do not clearly show when Mennonites first came to Danzig and its environs, but a letter from Menno Simons to his fellow-believers in “the land of Prussia” in 1549 indicates that he had visited the area in the previous summer and had addressed some pastoral concerns in the congregation .8 Thus, it seems evident that at least by the 1540s, an organized congregation existed in the region. 50 N mennonites in early modern poland and prussia M Mennonites who came to Danzig and the surrounding areas represented both the Flemish and Frisian wing of the movement. Both groups established congregations here, and after almost a century, eventually built their own churches. The congregations were not recognized as official churches, however, so individual persons purchased land on which the two groups built their houses of worship.9 As Mennonite communities arose in the Danzig suburbs and elsewhere...