1530 · Emden · Low German Mennonite
What happened
In May 1530 the lay preacher Melchior Hoffman baptized more than 300 adults in the sacristy (Gerkammer) of the Great Church (Große Kirche) at Emden, East Frisia. (Older notes here said “more than 100”; the East Frisian biographical lexicon gives “over 300”.) This was the first mass adult baptism in the Low Countries’ orbit, and the root of Dutch and North German Anabaptism, and so of the faith of the Wiebes. It is a separate root from the Swiss Brethren of Zurich (1525), the root of the Ramseyer, Neuenschwander and Miller lines.
Who the “Melchiorites” were
| Melchior Hoffman (c.1495–c.1543) | A furrier from Schwäbisch Hall with no university training. A Lutheran lay preacher first in Livonia (Dorpat, Reval, Riga; 1523–26), then Stockholm, then Kiel under the Danish king (1527–29). Expelled after the Flensburg disputation (1529) for his views on the Lord’s Supper. |
| Strasbourg, 1529–30 | Meets the Anabaptists there, including Swiss Brethren, and adopts adult baptism, but with his own end-times teaching: Christ would return soon, and Strasbourg would be the New Jerusalem. This is the one place where the family’s two faith roots touched. |
| Emden, spring–autumn 1530 | East Frisia’s ruler, Count Enno II, briefly tolerated all reform parties. Hoffman baptizes publicly; by November the local pastors force him out. |
| Jan Volkertsz Trijpmaker (of Hoorn) | Left in charge at Emden; carries the movement to Amsterdam. Arrested and beheaded at The Hague in December 1531 with eight others. |
| The “Stillstand” (1531–33) | Shocked by the executions, Hoffman suspends baptism for two years. |
| 1533 | Hoffman returns to Strasbourg expecting the end of the world, is jailed, and dies in prison about ten years later. |
What came out of it
- The violent branch. Jan Matthijs, a Haarlem baker, ends the Stillstand in late 1533 and sends out “apostles”; this leads to the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster (1534–35) and its massacre.
- The peaceful branch. Two of Matthijs’s apostles baptize Obbe Philips at Leeuwarden (winter 1533–34). Obbe ordains his brother Dirk Philips and, in 1536–37, Menno Simons. The peaceful Melchiorites become the Mennonites.
- Back to Emden. Menno debates John a Lasco (Jan Łaski), East Frisia’s church superintendent, at Emden in January 1544. Emden stays a refuge, and Mennonites from Emden reach Danzig: Jan Gerrits of Emden is Danzig’s elder in 1607. The Danzig council’s 1534 letter to Emden, asking for certificates for travellers because “some Anabaptists” had been found, shows how early the Emden–Danzig link was.
- Emden Disputation, 1578: a formal debate between the Reformed and the Mennonites (Krahn, MQR 30, 1956).
Why the family should care: the chain Hoffman (Emden 1530) → Trijpmaker (Amsterdam) → Obbe and Dirk Philips → Menno → Dirk Philips as elder at Danzig is the spiritual pedigree of the Wiebes’ Vistula congregations.
Place-name clarification — 2026-10-31 (ChatGPT / Codex)
The Münster episode mentioned above took place in Münster, Westphalia, Germany. It did not take place at Moutier (historically Münster), Switzerland, or at Münsterberg (Montagne de Moutier). The Swiss places belong to a different geographic setting in this family’s research. Sources: Münster City Museum; Historical Dictionary of Switzerland — Moutier.
See also Hamburg, Altona and the Hansa (Hoffman’s career ran through Hanseatic towns).
To read
- Krahn, Dutch Anabaptism (1968), the chapters on Hoffman and East Frisia (Christopher’s own copy) task/human
- Klaus Deppermann, Melchior Hoffman (1979; English 1987), the standard biography task/human
- Mennonite Encyclopedia: “Hoffman, Melchior”, “Melchiorites”, “Emden”, “Trijpmaker” task/human
Sources
- Legacy research file
- Ostfriesische Landschaft, Biographisches Lexikon: Hoffman, Melchior (May 1530, over 300 adults, Große Kirche)
- De Vries, Ketters (DBNL) (Trijpmaker of Hoorn as successor)
- Wikipedia: Melchior Hoffman
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.