1525

January 1525

Ludwig Haetzer arrived in Augsburg after being expelled from Zurich. He got a job working for printer Silvan Othman, and began hanging out with the city's religious dissidents. Nine months later he was forced to leave town.
(Go to September 1525 below.)

September 1525

Hans Denck arrived in Augsburg from St. Gall, and secured a position teaching Greek and Latin. He soon got involved with the city's radicals, including Sebastian Franck, Casper Schwenckfeld & Ludwig Haetzer. During his year here he wrote 3 treatises: Whether God is the Cause of Evil, Of the Law of God, and He Who Truly Loves the Truth.

Ludwig Haetzer was expelled from the city.

1526

Hans Bunderlin was baptized into the Anabaptist community. He next spent several months as a missionary in the region of Linz, Austria. From there he went to Nikolsburg in 1527, then Strasbourg in 1528.

May 1526

Balthasar Hubmaier arrived in Augsburg early in the month. It was here that he met Hans Denck. Hubmaier remained in town only 2 months.
(Go to July 1526 below.)

26 May 1526

Hans Denck baptized Hans Hut in a little house near the Heiligkreuz Gate. This marked the beginning of a distinct Anabaptist movement - the South German variety. (Some scholars say Hut's baptism occurred on 3 May.)

July? 1526

Balthasar Hubmaier left town and headed for Nikolsburg, Moravia around this time.

October (or November) 1526

Hans Denck fled the city to avoid appearing at a "public disputation" that he was afraid would turn into a legal hearing. He headed for Strasbourg.

1527

February 1527

Hans Hut organized an Anabaptist congregation here. Sigmund Salminger was chosen as the leader and Jacob Dachser as his assistant.

April 1527

Jakob Gross began baptizing people in Augsburg around this time. He soon emerged as one of the city's leading Anabaptists.

20-24 August 1527

Hans Hut, Hans Denck and a couple dozen other Anabaptist leaders met in the "Martyrs' Synod" (so called because most of the participants were dead soon afterwards). Hut and his preoccupation with the End Times was the main topic of discussion. Hut agreed to downplay his apocalyptic prediction-making. By this time Denck was in the last few months of his life, finally ending up in Basel.

15 September 1527

The police broke up a meeting of Anabaptists and arrested the participants, including Hans Hut, Jacob Gross & Augustin & Sabina Bader. Sabina Bader refused to renounce her baptism and was forced to leave the city 4 days later. (Go to 19 September 1527 below.) Hans Hut was put on trial and tortured on the rack. By early December he was dead. (Go to 7 December 1527 below.) Jacob Gross was left in prison where he languished for 4 years. (Go to 22 June 1531 below.)

19 September 1527

As she refused to renounce her baptism, Sabina Bader was forced to leave the city with her 8-week-old baby. Her husband, Augustin, remained in prison another month. (See 19 October below.) Their other 3 children were left in the care of relatives.

11 October 1527

City authorities convened a public forum in the city hall square and instructed their Anabaptist prisoners (1) to baptize their infants; (2) to not rebaptize anyone; (3) to stop providing lodging for itinerant Anabaptist ministers; and (4) to desist attending Anabaptist meetings.

19 October 1527

Augustin Bader recanted his Anabaptist beliefs and was released from prison.

7 December 1527

Hans Hut died of asphyxiation in his jail cell as the result of a mysterious fire. His son believed that a candle placed by the guards when they brought him back from a torture session ignited some straw. Hut's corpse was sentenced to death by burning, and he was thus set afire again.

1528

12 April 1528

Over 100 Anabaptists met for worship at the home of Susanna Doucher on this Easter Sunday. They were led by ministers Jorg Nespitzer & Hans Leupold. Word soon came that the police were about to raid the premises. Those who chose to flee did so; the 88 who remained were arrested and taken in irons to jail. Over the next few weeks the prisoners were interrogated under torture - the rack for the men and thumbscrews for the women - with the goal of obtaining names of Anabaptist sympathizers and their meeting places. As a result of this repression, the Anabaptist movement in Augsburg subsided after this time.

25 April 1528

Hans Leupold, the Anabaptist minister arrested in the group of 88 a couple weeks earlier, was executed.

1531

22 June 1531

After spending 4 years in prison, Jakob Gross recanted his Anabaptist views and was released.

1545

12 May 1545

Pilgram Marpeck was hired by the city as an engineer.

1556

December 1556

Pilgram Marpeck died.