Georg Zobel (d. 1603), a Hutterite physician in Nikolsburg, Moravia. Apparently he was a real doctor (not only a barber-surgeon) and the most famous of the numerous Hutterite physicians (see Medicine, Hutterite). In 1581-1582 he received the special honor of being called to the court of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague. The chronicle reports that the emperor "had many famous doctors from Italy, Spain, and other lands," but no one could really help him (he was afflicted with melancholia). As a last resort the doctor of the (generally despised) Anabaptists in Moravia, who was highly esteemed by the nobles, was called. Zobel stayed in Prague for six months, the emperor improved noticeably, and "some of the barons said that the emperor would have died if he had not received our physician." In 1597 (or 1599) Zobel was again called to Prague, this time to advise the government concerning an epidemic then rampant in Bohemia. In 1593 the Hutterites made Zobel a steward (Diener der Notdurft). The abbot of the monastery of Klosterbruck near Nikolsburg, who was a violent opponent of the Anabaptists, called Zobel "my dear friend," inviting him for consultation at the monastery (see Nikolsburg). When Zobel died in 1603, the chronicle devoted a whole paragraph to his praise. Of his personal life and his relationship to the brotherhood nothing is known.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1035. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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