Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-Century Reforming Pioneers

Ursula Jost and Barbara Rebstock of Strasbourg

266 Profiles of Anabaptist Women Margarethe was no longer a widow. Her second husband, Johannes Schwann of Marburg, took over the printshop on the date of their marriage. In 1509 Johannes Schwann had entered the order of the Franciscans at Marburg and from there was sent to the monastery in Basel. However, he left the monastery in 1522 and went to Wittenberg. In a letter dated February 27, 1523, addressed to his father Daniel Schwann of Marburg, Johannes gave his reasons­supported with biblical references­why he could no longer remain a Franciscan. In this letter he attacked the pope and the Roman Catholic understanding of salvation, stating instead that faith alone could save. While faith alone might save, it did not earn a living. And so it was that Johannes Schwann made his way to Strasbourg, where he learned the trade of printing­he may have apprenticed in the Priiss shop, although there is no evidence concerning the matter.30 The guilds made it very attractive for a man in Johannes Schwann's position to marry a widow like Margarethe. The guild entrance fees were often reduced or even eliminated in such cases. The guilds also lessened the length of time required of a man like Johannes to work as a journeyman before becoming a master. And of course, upon his marriage, Johannes received a house and a fully equipped shop with apprentices and journeymen.31 It is unclear whether it was through her second husband that Margarethe was influenced in a radical and Anabaptist direction. It is more likely that as a literate woman and for a time the sole proprietor of a print shop, she was well aware of the reforming ideas in circulation in the city.32 She probably was sympathetic to radical reform prior to her second marriage; in fact her decision to marry Johannes Schwann was probably dictated in part by his own agreement with her theological convictions. At any rate, under the direction of Schwann, the Priiss press printed not only some of Luther's writing, but also writings by Andreas Karlstadt and Clement Ziegler, the radical Strasbourg gardener and lay preacher. Ziegler had appeared before the magistrates several times requesting permission to publish his religious treatises; his requests were denied. The document that the Priiss press printed on June 2, 1524, was a short summary of biblical references to idolatry and where such idolatry might be found in the religious practices of the day.33 Given that the city was in tumult at this time concerning the practice of the mass and the veneration of religious "images" (the prime targets for charges of "idolatry"), the decision to publish this tract was a deliberate political action in favour of radical reform. The city records state that the book was "printed in Strasbourg by Johannes Schwann . . . [who] had taken over the printery from his wife Margarethe Priiss, of whom he was the second husband."34 The Strasbourg court records also refer to the Priiss printing of a second book by Ziegler. The second document concerned the virginity of Margarethe Priiss of Strasbourg 267 Mary and her first­born child, Christ. Reception of the document in Catholic regions was made easier because of the two woodcut prints of Mary with the child that adorned the document. From a copy of this booklet in the Dresden State Library, it has been determined that the printshop responsible for its publication "was that of Johannes Schwann, or in particular, of his wife, Margarethe Priiss." The printing date, determined by the document's content and tone, was either early in the year or in the summer of 1524.35 Margarethe's second marriage lasted only two years, for Johannes Schwann died in 1526. Because she once again assumed ownership of the printshop, Margarethe had no lack of suitors. By May 27, 1527, she had remarried. Her third husband, the printer Balthasar Beck (d. 1551), was from Kirchheim an der Eck, an Alsatian village situated on the small river Eckenbach. Beck probably learned the printing trade in his native village, where the brother of the Strasbourg printer Johann Griininger had a printery.36 With her marriage to Balthasar Beck, Margarethe once again passed on citizenship rights and guild rights, as well as the ownership of her printshop, for the third and last time. Her third husband was even more markedly radical than had been Johannes Schwann. It was commonly repeated that Balthasar Beck was an Anabaptist, although there is no...