HAETZER, h6'tzer (HETZER), LUDWIG: Swiss
Anabaptist; b. at Bischofazell (11 m. s.s.e. of Constance), Switzerland, c. 1500; d. at Constance Feb.
5, 1529. He was educated at Freiburg,
where, in
addition to acquiring a mastery of the classic
tongues and of Hebrew, he came under the influence of the mysticism of Tauler as expounded by
Johann Breisgauer and others. He was chaplain
at Wadenschwyl at the upper end of Lake Zurich
at the time when Zwingli entered upon his active
career and when the radical faction that combated
him, arose. In his
Tistachen Bfchli
(Zurich, 1523)
Haetzer made his appearance as a spokesman of
the
Iconoclasts, and the repute it brought him led to his
appointment as secretary to the Second Zurich Conference in October. He remained in Zurich for
some time engaged in literary work, meanwhile
growing more discontented with the policy of the
moderate Reformers. His dissatisfaction finds expression in the introduction to his German version
of Bugenhagen's exposition of the Pauline epistles.
In June, 1524, he left Zurich for Augsburg, furnished
with a letter of recommendation from Zwingli to
the well-known preacher Frosch. Of greater consequence was the acquaintance he formed with
Urbanus Rhegius. He also gained entrance into
the patrician house of Regel, where he lived in close
intimacy with its members until the autumn of the
same year. Returning to Zurich, he came into close
contact with the radicals Grebel, Manz, Reublin, and
Br6dlein, who were then engaged in a violent
struggle against the power of the "tyrants and
popes" and especially against the practise of infant baptism. Though Haetzer was no advocate of
adult baptism, confining himself to a protest against
the compulsory baptism of children, he was banished
from the city together with a number of the radicals
in Jan., 1525. Returning to Augsburg, he attained
prominence as an opponent of infant baptism and
an advocate of Carlstadt's teachings on the Lord's
Supper, and came to be regarded as the head of the
Anabaptist community. His exposition of faith,
of the free spirit, of love. and sacrifice even to the
cross, is contained in his Schrift von
den evangelischen Zechen and von der Christen Red
(1525).
His capacity for intrigue, his duplicity, his talents
for slander and abuse appeared in this book, as well
as in the letter which he addressed to Zwingli in
September of the same year. This depravity of
character led to his fall from his high position at
Augsburg. Challenged to a public disputation by
Rhegius he declined to accept the issue and was
expelled from the city as a man of bad morals,
an instigator of sedition and an enemy of the Prot
estant faith. In his hour of need he sought to make
his peace with Zwingli. Traveling to Zurich by
way of Basel, he was hospitably received by (Eco
lampadius, who rendered him assistance in the
translation of his First Epistle on the Holy Com
munion to the Swabiaus. In Feb., 1526, he arrived
in Zurich and was successful in effecting a recon
ciliation with Zwingli. But soon the newly formed
friendship expired, and in March Haetzer returned
to Basel more bitter than ever against Zwingli,
whom he attacked in the introduction to his trandation
of the Book of Malachi (Zurich, 1526).
From Basel Haetzer went to Strasburg where he
began his translation of the Prophets of which,
besides the book of Malachi, two chapters of Isaiah
(xxxvi.-xxxvii.) appeared in 1526. At Strasburg
he fell under the influence of Denk, whose views of
the inner word, of merit, and of the person of Christ
acted as a stimulant to the development of Haetzer's
own beliefs. Of the works of this period aside from
the translation of the Prophets none has survived;
but from the fragments that have been preserved
it is apparent that especially in his teachings of the
person of Christ he goes beyond Denk and reveals a
fearlessness and freshness of spirit that is charac
teristic of the man. In 1526 Denk was expelled
from Strasburg and betook himself to the Palat
inate. Haetzer followed him thither in the spring of
1527 and there completed his translation of the
Prophets from the Hebrew, a work of permanent
importance and the first of the Protestant trans
lations, anticipating the Zurich version by two
years and that of Luther by five. In the Palatinate,
Denk and Haetzer for a time formed a successful
partnership for purposes of agitation, in which the
former supplied the ideas while the latter had charge
of the strategy of the campaign. In July, how
ever, they were forced to flee, and Haetzer, after
wandering for nearly a year, settled down in Con
stance. There he was arrested toward the end of
1528 on the charge of an illicit connection with the
wife of Regel, his former patron at Augsburg, and
on Feb. 4, 1529, he was condemned to death and
decapitated on the following day. His memory was
held in reverence by the Anabaptists.
(A. Hegler†) K. HOLL
.
[The translation of the Prophets, first published
by P. Sch6ffer in 1527, was by Hans Denck and
Ludwig H&tzer, the Anabaptist scholars and re
formers. It passed through at least thirteen differ
ent
editions, was extensively used by the Zurich
translators, and much of it almost copied, without
credit, by Luther in his version. The work has been
highly praised for its scholarship and style (cf.
V. Keller,
Ein Apostel d. Wiedertagfer, pp.
210 sqq.).
A. H. N.]
B-Par: The best account of Haetser's life is by T.
Keim in
Jahrbücher für deutwhe Theologie, 1856, pp. 215
sqq. Consult: J. Beck,
Die Geschichtsba~her der Wieder
tWer,
in
Pontes rerum
Ausdtacatum, afiii. 33-34,
Vienna,
1884; A.
Baur,
Zwdnglis Theologde,
Halle,
1885-89: C.
Beard,
Refornwhon in the dixtwnth CentwV,
London,
1897.
V.--8
