Ottius, Johann Heinrich (ca. 1617-1682)
Ottius (Otto, Otte, Ott), Johann Heinrich (c1617-1682), a Swiss Reformed church historian, was educated at the universities of Lausanne, Geneva, Groningen, Leiden, and Amsterdam, traveled through France and England, and then became preacher in Dietikon near Zürich. He occupied himself with the study of the great Catholic church history by Baronius, and wrote on the question whether and when Peter was in Rome. In 1672 he published the Annales Anabaptistici hoc est, Historia Universalis de Anabaptistarum origine, progressu, factionibus & schismatis, paradoxis, tumultibus, colloquiis, pacificationibus, locis & sedibus, scriptis hinc illinc emissis, edictis & judiciis, ac quicquid praeterea ad rem facere videtur. His Præmissa prolegomena 1. Ad lectorem. 2. de variis Anabaptistarum fectis tractatio duplex. 3. collatio cum veteribus hæreticis. 4. de Donatistis. 5. quomodo tractandi ejusmodi homines; uná cum Indice copioso (Basel, 1672), a chronicle of the Anabaptists year by year from 1521 (Müntzer and Storch!) to 1671. Although Ottius was not very favorable to the Anabaptists and his Annales are not entirely unprejudiced, this account of Anabaptist history contains many interesting facts. He spent the years 1634-1641 in the Netherlands, industriously collecting the material that he later worked into his chronicle. He must have had an extraordinary acquaintance with the old Anabaptist writings. Later he became a professor at the University of Zürich. He must be distinguished from a number of contemporaries of the same name with variant spellings.
Bibliography
Bergmann, Cornelius. Die Täuferbewegung im Kanton Zürich bis 1660. Leipzig, 1916: 146-59.
Correll, Ernst. Das Schweizerische Täufermennonitentum. Tübingen, 1925: 67 f.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 v. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 327.
Jöchers Gelehrten-Lexikon III. Leipzig, 1751: Col. 1141 and continuation in Vol. V, Delmenhorst, 1816.
Müller, Ernst. Geschichte der Bernischen Täufer. Frauenfeld: Huber, 1895: 166 f.
| Author(s) | Ernst Crous |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Crous, Ernst. "Ottius, Johann Heinrich (ca. 1617-1682)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ottius,_Johann_Heinrich_(ca._1617-1682)&oldid=59954.
APA style
Crous, Ernst. (1959). Ottius, Johann Heinrich (ca. 1617-1682). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ottius,_Johann_Heinrich_(ca._1617-1682)&oldid=59954.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 94-95. All rights reserved.
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