Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-Century Reforming Pioneers

Elisabeth von Wolkenstein of Uttenheim

Anabaptist Women in Tirol who Recanted 157 when they were first arrested, although information is sparse regarding their motivations. In some cases individuals decided to recant in order to save their lives, not wanting to abandon their families; in other cases recantation simply bought time, but did not indicate conformity. We know this by the number of cases where persons were arrested a second time. Within the Anabaptist community recantation did not preclude reinstatement. Women from all levels of society recanted. Whether they were from the upper classes, like Elizabeth von Wolkenstein or Helena von Freyberg, or from among the commoners, each had her own reason for doing so. The procedures for recantation were outlined in a mandate of the Archbishop of Salzburg as early as November 1527. The usual recantation procedure included a public recantation [Widermf], an oath [Urfehde], repentance as prescribed by the parish priest [ires pharrer's Buss], and payment of court costs [Bezahlung der Atzung und Gerichtskosten}. Moreover, each person, whether male or female, was required to make an individual public statements to prove a change of mind and a rejection of what the government viewed as sectarian belief. A directive sent out by Archduke Ferdinand, ruler of the Austrian territory of Tirol, on February 1, 1528, instructed local officials to make sure that each person would speak his or her own recantation.2 In other words, a husband, father, or other male guardian could not recant on behalf of a woman. Just as in the question of rebaptism, a woman had to undertake this action herself. Even if a woman had been influenced by other members of her family or household, the government insisted that the actual recantation had to be spoken by her. It was similar in the matter of pardons. All individuals, male or female, had to appear in person and prove themselves ready to accept their punishment. A recantation was usually carried out on three consecutive Sundays in the church in front of the congregation. Only then could a person be reinstated in the established church. The swearing of an oath to the secular authorities was to ensure that the person would take no further action against the government. But since the women had committed a criminal offence, they were required to swear an oath in the same manner as the men. This may have been somewhat unusual for them.3 In most cases prison costs had to be paid before the prisoner could be released. When pardons were granted, they often included recantation and punishment, depending on the severity of the crime. For some women a request [Bittschrift] for their release from prison was submitted on their behalf by family members and friends. In some cases only certain members of the family were involved in the Anabaptist movement. At other times entire households were affected by Anabaptist ideas and many of the persons involved were women. As with the fourteenth­century Cathar heretics of Mountaillou in Southern France, an individual "infected with dogmatic deviation" soon spread the disease to other members of his or her household.4 In the city of Bozen in the Tirol, ] 158 Profiles of Anabaptist Women for example, the women in the household of the painter Bartlme Dill, as well as the wife and maid of Sebastian Ess's household and Sigmund Treibenreif s maid were imprisoned as Anabaptists in 1528. In the end all chose to recant.5 The seven women from the Dill and Ess households all escaped punishment, but this was not the case for all women who recanted. The types of punishments meted out to women who recanted or were pardoned usually indicate the extent to which they had been involved in the movement after their rebaptism. Martha Weltzenberger of St. Petersberg was sentenced to imprisonment for eight to fourteen days with little food, for which she had to pay, in addition to the recantation in the church, the oath, and the penance required by her priest. Such corrective measures were not prescribed for Lienhard Spitzhamer of Rattenberg and the maid from his household who were tried at the same time, and who both chose to recant. The additional punishment meted out to Martha Weltzenberger indicates that she had been more involved in the Anabaptist movement than were her fellow prisoners.6 There were other cases where recanting women were kept in prison on a starvation diet. A group of fourteen prisoners arrested May 23, 1528, also from St. Petersberg, included eight women...