Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters

In 1529, after the last of the Anabaptists' first leaders
had been burned at the stake, the recent convert Jakob Hutter became a missionary
and leader in their underground congregations. These fellowships held their
goods in common and abjured violence, seeking to live according to Jesus'
teachings. Ferdinand, ruler of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor), sought to
stamp out this movement through a campaign of surveillance, torture, and
executions. Many Anabaptists fled to more tolerant Moravia; as the repression
in Austria intensified, Hutter and his future wife Katharina followed them. But
in 1535, Ferdinand pressured the governor of Moravia to expel the refugees from
their homes. The Hutters returned to the mission field in Tyrol, where they
were soon captured by Ferdinand's forces; Jakob would be burned, Katharina was drowned
two years later.