page_title: Swiss Brethren
section_title: Key leaders
hierarchical_section_title: Swiss Brethren / Key leaders
caption_attribution_description: English: German Anabaptist Balthasar Hubmaier (1485-1528); Gravure by Christoffel van Sichem Deutsch: Deutscher Täufer Balthasar Hubmaier (1485-1528); Stich von Christoffel van Sichem
context_page_description: The Swiss Brethren are a branch of Anabaptism that started in Zürich, spread to nearby cities and towns, and then was exported to neighboring countries. Today's Swiss Mennonite Conference can be traced to the Swiss Brethren.
  In 1525, Felix Manz, Conrad Grebel, George Blaurock and other radical evangelical reformers broke from Ulrich Zwingli and formed a new group because they felt reforms were not moving fast enough.
  Rejection of infant baptism was a distinguishing belief of the Swiss Brethren. On the basis of Sola scriptura doctrine, the Swiss Brethren declared that since the Bible does not mention infant baptism, it should not be practiced by the church. This belief was subsequently rejected by Ulrich Zwingli. Consequently, there was a public dispute, in which the council affirmed Zwingli's position. This solidified the Swiss Brethren and resulted in their persecution by all other reformers as well as the Catholic Church.
  Because of persecution by the authorities, many Swiss Brethren moved from Switzerland to neighboring countries. The Swiss Brethren became known as Mennonites after the division of 1693, a disagreement between groups led by Jacob Amman and Hans Reist.
context_section_description: George Blaurock (Bonaduz, c. 1491 – 1529) was a co-founder of the Swiss Brethren movement. He was educated at the University of Leipzig and served as a priest, but departed from the Catholic Church before he arrived in Zürich around 1524, for he had already taken a wife.  Though he came to see Huldrych Zwingli, he soon became attached to the reformer's more radical followers. After a break with Zwingli in January 1525 and acting against a Zürich city council ruling, Blaurock asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him upon a confession of faith in Christ. Grebel did so, and afterwards Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others who were present. Blaurock worked closely with Felix Manz until Manz was martyred in Zürich in 1527. On that same day, Blaurock was severely beaten and permanently expelled from Zürich. He kept moving, laboring at Bern, Biel, the Grisons, and Appenzell. After his arrest and fourth banishment in 1527, Blaurock left Switzerland never to return. He conducted a very successful ministry in Tyrol. In August 1529 he was arrested by Innsbruck authorities and tortured for information. On 6 September 1529, Blaurock was burned at the stake near Klausen.
  Conrad Grebel (c. 1498 – 1526) was a co-founder of the Swiss Brethren movement. He was probably born in Grüningen about 1498. His family moved to Zürich around 1513. Grebel spent about six years in three universities, but without finishing his education or receiving a degree. In 1521 he joined a group gathered around Zürich reformer Huldrych Zwingli to study the Greek classics, the Latin Bible, the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. Core members of the group broke with Zwingli because they thought the reform process was proceeding too slowly. At a gathering in January 1525 George Blaurock asked Grebel to baptize him upon a confession of faith. Afterward, Blaurock baptized Grebel and the others, initiating a wave of rebaptisms that would spread throughout the Swiss cantons. Grebel died of the plague in 1526.
  Margret Hottinger (before 1515 – 30) was a charismatic and respected leader during the initial years of the movement. She joined early in 1525, at the time when George Blaurock evangelized and baptized in Zollikon.  Her father and brothers were rebaptized early in 1525 also; Klaus Hottinger, an uncle, had been executed the previous year for his reformation activities.  Hottinger was arrested along with other Anabaptist leaders including Blaurock, Grebel, Mantz, and Sattler in November of the same year. While Sattler and some others were released after swearing an oath promising to stop advocating rebaptism, Hottinger and the others refused and were imprisoned under harsh conditions. Hottinger relented after six months and signed a recantation, but before the year was out she was evangelizing in St. Gall. Hottinger and her family remained active in the area of Zürich even after most other Anabaptists had fled to Moravia because of intense persecution. Finally they too set out for Moravia in 1530, but were captured en route near Waldsee. Hottinger was drowned because she refused to recant, her father Jakob was beheaded and her brother Felix was released because of his young age.
  Balthasar Hubmaier (c. 1480 – 1528) was one of the most well-known and respected Anabaptist theologians of the Reformation. He was born in Friedberg, Bavaria around 1480. In 1524, he married Elizabeth Hügline of Reichenau. He attended Latin School at Augsburg, received both a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Freiburg in 1511 and a doctor's degree from the University of Ingolstadt under Johann Eck in 1512. After serving as the university's vice-rector, he left a pastorate of the Catholic Church at Regensburg in 1516 and then went to Waldshut in 1521. He was rebaptised there in 1525 by Wilhelm Reublin. He succeeded in establishing Anabaptism as the official religion for a short period first in Waldshut and then in Nikolsburg. On 10 March 1528 Hubmaier was executed by burning for heresy.
  Felix Manz (c. 1498 – 1527) was a co-founder of the Swiss Brethren movemen
caption: Balthasar Hubmaier was the foremost theologian of the Swiss Brethren.
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