Jacob Hutter (ca 1500 – 25 February 1536), was a Tyrolean

County of Tyrol

The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 Anabaptist

Anabaptist

Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

 leader and founder of the Hutterite

Hutterite

Hutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Since the death of their founder Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute...

s.

Jacob Hutter was born in St. Lorenzen

St. Lorenzen

St. Lorenzen is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 100 km northeast of Trento and about 50 km northeast of Bolzano...

 in the Puster Valley in the County of Tyrol

County of Tyrol

The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 (South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

 today). He learned hat making in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 and became an itinerant craftsperson.

He first encountered Anabaptists in Klagenfurt

Klagenfurt

-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...

 and soon thereafter was converted to their belief. He began preaching in the Tyrol region, forming several small congregations. In early 1529, authorities in the Tyrol began to pursue Anabaptists there. Hutter and a few other went to investigate Moravia, because they heard the persecution was not as severe there. They found the situation was indeed more tolerant and the Tyrolean Anabaptists decided to emigrate. As small groups moved to Moravia, Hutter remained in the Tyrol to pastor the those who remained.

Hutter escaped capture by the authorities because other captured Anabaptists would not reveal his whereabouts, even under severe torture. In 1527, Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...

 declared that seductive doctrines and heretical sects "will not be tolerated."

Hutter went to Moravia in 1533, when the persecution of the Anabaptists in the Tyrol was at its peak. Many Anabaptists from the Pfalz, Schwaben and Silesia also came to Moravia. Hutter united the local Anabaptist congregations, enabling Anabaptism in Moravia to flourish. Under Hutter's leadership, several of the congregations adopted the early Christian practice of communal ownership of goods, in additions to their Anabaptists beliefs of nonviolence, and adult baptism.

In 1535 the Moravian government expelled all Anabaptists from Moravia and they scattered to surrounding countries. Hutter returned to the Tyrol where he was arrested on 30 November 1535 in Klausen and brought to the fortress in Bronzolo

Bronzolo

Bronzolo is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 40 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 11 km south of the city of Bolzano....

. On 9 December, Hutter was moved to Innsbruck where he was interrogated and pressured to recant

Recantation

The verb recant , and its derivative noun recantation, can mean:* To formally abandon a belief or a particular statement of belief, generally under order from an ecclesiastical authority to...

. Even under severe torture he would not recant or reveal the names of other Anabaptists. Hutter was sentenced to death by fire and died on 25 February 1536 on the stake in Innsbruck at the Golden Roof

Golden Roof

The Golden Roof is a landmark in Innsbruck, Austria built in 1500. It was decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. The reliefs on the balcony show coats of arms, symbols and other figures in his life.-History:...

. According to the Hutterian Chronicle, a total of 360 Anabaptists were executed in the Tyrol.

Hutter's words are recorded in eight letters, written under severe persecution.

Commemoration

In Innsbruck Hutter is remembered in a street name, Hutterweg and by a plaque at the Golden Roof. Since 1992, Austrian Service Abroad

Austrian Service Abroad

Austrian Service Abroad is a non-profit initiative and was founded in 1998 by Andreas Maislinger and Andreas Hörtnagl. Since 2001 Michael Prochazka is part of the managing committee.-General Information:...

, which works for worldwide understanding and reconciliation, has been located on Hutterweg.

In 2006–2007 a working group with representatives from Protestant and Catholic churches, the peace movement Pax Christi

Pax Christi

-History:Pax Christi was established in France in 1945 as a reconciliation work between the French and the Germans after the Second World War. In 2007, it existed in more than 60 countries...

 and the Association of Evangelical churches in Tyrol worked toward reconciliation with the Hutterites. On 25 February 2007 the group, along with three couples invited to represent the Hutterites, held a memorial ceremony at the Golden Roof and a joint prayer service in the old city hall in Innsbruck.

Further reading

• The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren (Plough Publishing House 1987)
• Brotherly Faithfulness: Epistles from a Time of Persecution (Plough Publishing House 1979)
• Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments during the Reformation by Werner O. Packull, The Johns Hopkins University Press
  Johns Hopkins University Press
  The Johns Hopkins University Press is the publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The Press publishes books, journals, and electronic databases...
  
  , 1995

External links

• Jakob Hutter in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online