Stäbler
Stäbler (bearers of the staff, that is, instead of the sword), the name given to the completely nonresistant party of Anabaptists at Nikolsburg , led by Jacob Widemann and Philip Jäger, in contradistinction to the party of Balthasar Hubmaier who defended the use of the sword under certain circumstances as well as the payment of war taxes. The Hubmaier party was called the "Schwerdtler". The Stäbler became the Hutterites, while the Hubmaier party died out by 1529. As late as 1576 Caspar Franck's Catalogus Haereticorum (Ingolstadt) lists the Stäbler as follows: "Stäbler teach that a Christian cannot with a clear conscience and according to the Word of God bear a sword or wage war, but shall let a staff suffice. They are usually reckoned among the Anabaptists, who arose in our time." This does not necessarily mean that they were still in existence in 1576. The Hutterite <em>Chronik</em> attributes the name Stäbler to Hans Spittelmaier's action.
Bibliography
Zieglschmid, A. J. F. Die älteste Chronik der Hutterischen Brüder: Ein Sprachdenkmal aus frühneuhochdeutscher Zeit. Ithaca: Cayuga Press, 1943: 86.
| Author(s) | Harold S Bender |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Bender, Harold S. "Stäbler." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=St%C3%A4bler&oldid=85250.
APA style
Bender, Harold S. (1959). Stäbler. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=St%C3%A4bler&oldid=85250.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 607. All rights reserved.
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