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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

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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

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