Franz Breuning, a prominent member of the Augsburg Anabaptists, was beaten 20 January 1528, and expelled from the city. He was the son of the mastersinger George Breuning, a master weaver of Augsburg, born about 1440. George Breuning's two epistles, "Von der Liebe Gottes" and especially his three hymns "Von Gott und von Christo," printed in 1503, were widely used by the brotherhood. The former was evidently published in a new edition in 1525 by Jakob Dachser and Siegmund Salminger, the leaders of the Augsburg congregation. Salminger included the hymns in his hymnal, Der ganze Psalter, published in 1537. It was reprinted from this hymnal by Wackernagel, Kirchenlied. One of them, "Gott ist ewig," became known through the adaptation by Johannes Böschenstein. George Breuning's works show the influence of German Mysticism. The fact that his son was an Anabaptist, and that his writings were highly regarded by them is significant evidence of a relationship between the two intellectual movements of the Reformation period.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 427. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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