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Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris :

Anabaptist Women and Their Letters

Räisänen-Schröder, Päivi
Fortress Press
2022-10-04

Räisänen-Schröder , P 2022 , Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris :

Anabaptist Women and Their Letters . in K I Stjerna (ed.) , Women Reformers of Early
Modern Europe : Profiles, Texts, and Contexts . Fortress Press , Minneapolis , pp. 209-222 .

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/352517

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 ANNA SCHARNSCHLAGER
(D. 1564) AND
V
o MARGARETHE ENDRIS
Anabaptist Women and Their Letters
PÄIVI R ÄISÄNEN - S CHRÖDER
T
his chapter presents texts by two
largely unknown female mem-
bers of sixteenth-century Ana-
baptist groups in German-speaking
central Europe. Anabaptism is a generic
term coined by sixteenth-century oppo-
nents of the movement to describe those
groups in the Reformation who criticized
Luther’s and Zwingli’s reformations as
half-hearted and sought a simple life in
accordance with what they understood as
the ideals of the early church. Anabaptism
was a highly heterogeneous phenomenon,
and despite some common basic princi-
ples, there were many doctrinal and prac-
the mid-1970s, it has been common to
divide the movement into three geograph-
ical strands with largely independent ori-
gins: the Swiss Anabaptists, the southern
German / Austrian Anabaptists, and
the northern German / Dutch Anabap-
tists.1 Relations with secular powers and
afp-stjerna.indd 209
the established churches were tense, and
Anabaptists were persecuted in the Holy
Roman Empire as both heretics and
criminals. Especially after the turbulent
1520s, many groups were lay-driven, and
at its best, the study of Anabaptism opens
extraordinary windows into the religiosity
of sixteenth-century laypeople and their
aspirations for religious and social change.
Anabaptists shared the Protestant fond-
ness for the vernacular Bible. Depending on
the group, greater emphasis was placed
on a literal or spiritualistic interpretation of
Scripture. Most Anabaptist groups, how-
valid arguments in favor of infant bap-
tism, in contrast to Lutheran beliefs. With
regard to the Lord’s Supper, they took a
from Luther’s in rejecting the teaching of
Christ’s Real Presence in the sacrament.
Although oral communication was cen-
tral and at times vital among persecuted
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 210 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations
groups such as the Anabaptists, the writ-
a time where most people were illiterate,
those who mastered the skill would read
texts aloud and thus make the written
word more widely available. The use
of literature helped shape and main-
tain religious and group identity among
brothers and sisters who, at times, lived
far apart. When larger gatherings were
and instruction in matters of faith could
be replaced by reading devotional texts
in small, trusted circles or even alone. In
addition, written treatises provided a basis
for discussion with possible proselytes or
religious antagonists. Among the literary
the Anabaptists were lay prophesies, mar-
genres such as the Hutterites’ chronicles,
history or their extensive collections of
missionary epistles. As both a traditional
literary genre emulating apostolic episto-
lary models and a form of commonplace
writing, letters played a central role for
the Anabaptists more broadly. Women
participated in the letter-writing, which is
why the text samples in this volume draw
on this material and aim to showcase the
variety of Anabaptist women’s letters.
While many of the leading men laid
out their theological views in writing,
evidence of their lives and beliefs. Besides
living in a culture marked by oral com-
munication, it was often in the interest of
the Anabaptists not to leave incriminating
written evidence about themselves. On
afp-stjerna.indd 210
the other hand, the persecutors had little
interest in preserving such texts beyond
the immediate need of identifying, eval-
uating, and punishing the transgressors of
norms. The Anabaptist groups themselves
mostly focused on preserving normative
central religious practices. If texts by
women writers were preserved, we must
assume that they were considered espe-
cially valuable for the community.
The bulk of information about
was produced by their learned adversaries.
Main sources include theological and legal
texts, interrogation protocols, and other
administrational material. These adver-
and their values distort the sources against
the Anabaptists. Despite the challenges
with the sources, we should, in my view,
try to make the common Anabaptists,
women as well as men, visible as histori-
cal agents and to sound out as best we can
what positions they took in faith and other
matters. If read carefully against the grain
and with an eye to the power imbalance,
the normative sources can yield glimpses
into the lives and survival strategies of the
Anabaptists or people suspected as such.
As for the women, they were marginal-
religious beliefs and, second, because of
their gender. Prevailing gender stereotypes
were treated. As the “weaker vessel,” the
authorities tended to regard women as
easy prey for the conniving Anabaptist
preachers. At the same time, women were
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris
readily misjudged as being less capable
than men in spreading Anabaptist ideas,
opportunities to engage in Anabaptist
activities under the radar. Remarkably,
the women themselves knew how to use
these stereotypes in their defense when
questioned by the authorities.2
The Search for Anabaptist Women
Scholarly interest in Anabaptism has long
-
ent groups and their leaders, ideological
the sixteenth century. In this framework,
women have been recognized early on as
a driving force, and their standing in the
- meaningful to the Anabaptists themselves.
tiny. Generally, researchers have ascribed
women greater possibilities of action in
those Anabaptist groups that were more
open toward prophesies and spiritualistic
interpretations of the Bible, such as the
South German / Austrian Anabaptist
groups, whereas a more literal biblical ori-
entation, as adopted for instance by the
Swiss Brethren, tended to draw stricter
- participation of women in early Anabap-
imation to opposing views: namely, for
women to remain silent (1 Cor 14:34–35)
and for women to speak up (Joel 2:28–29).3
Moreover, it has been emphasized that
women were equally free to choose a life
and, as the many female martyrs testify,
death as an Anabaptist.
By and large, early scholarly debates
about women revolved around the degree
of equality granted to women in Anabap-
tist groups as opposed to women in other
afp-stjerna.indd 211
211
Christian denominations of the time. At
one end of the discussion were schol-
ars who see Anabaptist groups as giving
women near-equal status with men and
thus playing a pioneering role in pro-
moting gender equality. At the other end
stood researchers who stress that Anabap-
tists had no more aspiration for gender
equality than other contemporaries.4 In
light of current historical research, the
latter interpretation is more viable. In
the sixteenth century, gender was not a
needed to be negotiated time and again.
Although gender undoubtedly molded
Anabaptist experiences and practices, it
was not the only and probably not even
the most important category that was
The primary concern of Anabaptists was
not the overthrow of patriarchal struc-
tures but the salvation of believers.
Researchers informed by feminist
studies and women’s history have contrib-
uted much to our understanding of Ana-
baptist women, especially since the 1990s.
Marion Kobelt-Groch’s dissertation was
tism and in the Peasants’ War.5 Another
milestone has been the collection
-
ing Pioneers, edited by C. Arnold Snyder
and Linda A. Huebert Hecht in 1996.
Organized around the main branches
of Anabaptism, these short biographies
reconstruct the lives of many of these
entirely free of apologetic appraisal, the
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 212 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations
for future research. At the same time, the
compilation only presents a small selec-
tion of all the women active within early
modern Anabaptism; archival records can
provide clues to untold other destinies.
A standard interpretation of the role
and participation of women in sixteenth-
century Anabaptism has been the so-called
two-phase model. It describes the pro-
cess by which women who were active in
the early days of the movement were
pushed aside as the organization of the
movement became more established.6
As attractive as this model seems, it does
not stand up to closer scrutiny, as Sigrun
Haude, for instance, has objected since
early on. First, it is challenging to make
a clear distinction between “early” and
“late” periods, because Anabaptism took
7
Second, the notion
of distinct periods may hamper our
interpretation of the sources. For exam-
ple, we might be inclined to downplay
the evidence of women’s activity in later
- more broadly. One recent opening in this
retical model. Moreover, the availability
of relevant sources can vary considerably
depending on time and place, thus further
obscuring our view of the women. None-
theless, Anabaptist women were active at
all times, as, for instance, my own study
on Anabaptism in Württemberg in the
late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen-
tury shows. I found women living out their
beliefs by supporting their fellow believers,
hiding and feeding them, keeping the net-
works alive, disseminating and reading
literature, educating their children, yearn-
ing to hear the word of God (just not in
afp-stjerna.indd 212
Lutheran churches), bargaining with the
authorities for leeway, engaging in reli-
gious discussions, evangelizing, and as the
sample texts exemplify, resettling in for-
eign places.8
Third, the two-phase model is
grounded in male perceptions and there-
fore ignores the experiences and inter-
pretations of the women themselves.9
-
ership or gender equality is problematic
because it too easily projects current ide-
als and concerns into early modern soci-
own. Even if Anabaptist women did not
usually hold formal leadership positions
within the movement, it does not mean
that they were not actively involved and
research should therefore strive to ana-
lyze in-depth the experiences and actions
of the women themselves, whenever
perspectives on the history of not only
Anabaptists but also Christian women
vein of research, extending the horizon
from sixteenth-century experiences into
the nineteenth century, is the collection
of essays tellingly entitled Sisters: Myth and
-
.10 The essays
seek to write history from the perspective
of the women themselves and to debunk
long-standing myths.
In addition to uncovering the stories of
Anabaptist women, we should stop seeing
men’s ideas and experiences as universal
and instead look into the constructions
of Anabaptist masculinities. Examples of
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris
such an approach are Katharina Rein-
holdt’s dissertation, which takes a complex
look at Anabaptist marriage and sexuality
from the perspectives of both men and
women, and Adam Bonikowske’s thesis
about Anabaptist masculinity in Refor-
mation Europe, organized around the life
stages of Anabaptist men.11 Only by mak-
ing men’s experiences visible as such can
we begin to relate them to women’s expe-
riences and thus develop a more diverse
understanding of both. In this endeavor,
Early seventeenth-century depiction of Hutterite man
and woman in front of a dovecote on the title page
Der Hutterischen
Widertauffer Taubenkobel by the Jesuit Christoph
out their Moravian settlements like doves. The mod-
estly dressed woman is offering a loaf of bread to the
man, who is holding a drinking vessel, perhaps a jug
of beer.
afp-stjerna.indd 213
213
not only between genders but also among
other factors such as social background,
degree of pressure from the authorities,
or the normative precepts of the respec-
tive Anabaptist groups, which impacted
the Anabaptists’ views and means of
action.
Texts by Sixteenth-Century
Anabaptist Women
Although their writings are hard to come
by, individual Anabaptist women did voice
their beliefs in texts ranging from hymns,
poems, and letters to prophesies and con-
fessions. Prominent examples of Anabap-
tist women’s writing are, for example, the
farewell letters of soon-to-be martyrs such
as that of Mayeken Wens, burned at the
stake in Antwerp in 1573,12 or the con-
fession of sins by the Tirolean baroness
Helene von Freyberg, written probably in
the early 1540s.13 Also worth mentioning
here are songs about and by Anabaptist
women. Recent research has uncovered
that women wrote more martyr songs than
hitherto thought: their songs have been
included in the Anabaptist hymnals of the
sixteenth century but frequently rendered
anonymous by the editors or ignored by
later scholars. In addition, songs with
female martyrs in the leading role are not
as uncommon as one might think.14
Anabaptist letters survive either as cop-
ies in Anabaptist manuscripts (this is more
common with men’s letters, however,
which were deemed to have more signif-
as part of magisterial record-keeping. At
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 214 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations
best, letters can convey a lot about both
the beliefs and the social and familial net-
works of Anabaptist men and women. In
the “In Her Own Voice” section for this
chapter, I will take a closer look at two
Anabaptist women’s letters. The women
presented here, Anna Scharnschlager and
Margarethe Endris, both belonged to the
- his religious convictions.17 Those of Anna
ent generations, social groups, and geo-
graphical settings.
Coming from a well-to-do Tirolean
burgher family, Anna Scharnschlager (d.
1564) had taken as her second husband
the Anabaptist leader Leupold Scharn-
in the circle around Pilgram Marpeck
(d. 1556). Many of the South German /
Austrian Anabaptists shared a mystical,
spiritualistic, and apocalyptic outlook,
1520s onward. The Anabaptists in Tirol
established underground congregations
that cultivated widely dispersed connec-
tions to other Anabaptist groups. A strong
emphasis was placed on the working of
the Holy Spirit, and it was a direct call
from God that legitimated lay preaching
or, occasionally, prophesying. Moreover,
South German / Austrian Anabaptism
- do not convey much about her religious
tian.15 When Leupold’s situation in the
became precarious in 1530, Anna sold
the family home to her brother-in-law
before the family left town. With the money
from the sale, they were able to support
from 1534, in an unknown place. In 1546,
they settled in Ilanz, Switzerland, where
afp-stjerna.indd 214
they lived quietly for the rest of their lives.
While Leupold acted as schoolmaster in
Ilanz and elder to a widespread Anabap-
tist congregation, Anna took care of the
16
Through the surviving writings by
Leupold Scharnschlager, preserved by his
peers, we can get an impression of
Scharnschlager, however, remain obscure.
Since she actively organized the practical
matters of their exile, we can assume that
she shared a good portion of his views,
but as with so many Anabaptist women,
a more exact picture of her individual
faith cannot be reconstructed. Instead,
her surviving letters open windows into
the hands-on activities of a vernacularly
literate, urban middle-class Anabaptist
woman, who supported her husband’s
-
tical and family matters. Through her
correspondence, Anna Scharnschlager
sought to keep track of family news,
deaths and possible inheritances, old debts
and their payments. If necessary, she
did not hesitate to remind her relatives
about the duties that came along with fam-
ily ties, regardless of religious opinion.18
Even though Anna Scharnschlager’s letters
beliefs, they are invaluable for our under-
standing of the crucial role women played
in upholding the networks and infrastruc-
ture of a persecuted religious minority.
Anna Scharnschlager and other Ana-
baptist letter writers cultivated contacts
with not only family members but also
brothers and sisters in faith. The circu-
lation of letters and information in these
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris
networks was based on a high degree of
trust, since such letters could bear signif-
icant danger if they landed in the wrong
hands. Much was therefore communi-
cated orally, and hence we know only little
of it. Sometimes, however, the letters point
to the underground networks’ modes of
operation. Anna Scharnschlager’s letters
to her niece Regina Anfang in 1546 (not
translated here) ends with the note that
Anna has provided the messenger—a
trustworthy fellow Anabaptist—with a list
of names of those whom he should inquire
about the assumed death and possible
inheritance of Anna’s uncle, information
that Anna’s relatives had been unable or
unwilling to convey.19 Similarly, Marga-
rethe Endris’s letter to her son indicates
that the letter should only be delivered
by a trusted person and that some topics
should be best discussed face to face, not
via letter. Further examples can be easily
found in other letters by both male and
female Anabaptists.
About a generation after Anna Scharn-
schlager’s correspondence, Margarethe
Endris left her rural homelands and part
of her family behind in Württemberg to
live among her fellow believers in Mora-
via. Especially Anabaptists from the Tirol,
Switzerland, and Central Germany found
their way into Moravia and established a
number of close-knit religious communi-
ties known as Brüderhöfe. The Moravian
Anabaptists are generally called Hutterites
after the Tirolean hatmaker Jakob Hutter
(d. 1536), and the movement traces its
origins back to the South German / Aus-
trian branch of Anabaptism in the 1520s.
However, the Hutterites also developed
afp-stjerna.indd 215
215
features of their own, especially with
regard to their hierarchical community
organization, community of goods, and
rich vernacular literature.20
Margarethe’s surviving letter is the
only proof of her existence, since her
name does not appear in the administra-
tional records of Württemberg, nor do
any other letters to or from her survive.
This one, however, is preserved by both
her Hutterite community and the Würt-
temberg authorities who made a copy of
it. It is one of the few epistles written by
women that the Hutterites have deemed
important enough to keep over the cen-
turies. And indeed, as Wes Harrison has
in all Hutterite literature” of the breth-
ren’s articles of faith and their main points
of criticism toward the Lutherans.21
We can try to put Margarethe Endris
into her historical context by examining the
situation of Anabaptists in both her native
region and her later destination, Moravia,
and by closely following the clues provided
in her letter. First of all, we can deduce that
she had left Württemberg and settled in
Moravia before the writing of her letter
in 1574. Her emigration made her part
of a growing trend in the early 1570s, at
a time when Württemberg was ridden by
harvests, and famine, while life in Mora-
via was more secure in all respects. Mar-
garethe’s home village of Horrheim was
so struck by the hardships that the pastor
there was instructed to exhort the famish-
ing parishioners in his sermons not to emi-
grate to Moravia in a too hasty manner.22
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 216 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations
However, it seems clear that Margarethe
had sound religious reasons to leave.
In her letter, Margarethe Endris
expresses a vigorous missionary agenda.
We have very little evidence about women
acting as missionaries, although some
wives accompanied their husbands on
missionary travels. Endris’s letter shows
had the required learning and zeal. Not
many letters by Hutterite women sur-
vive, but those that do share Margarethe
Endris’s enthusiasm for her chosen path.
Hutterite women could thus use letters as
a means of proselytization, even if they
rarely embarked on missionary journeys
themselves. The target audience was in
both cases largely the same—relatives,
friends, and neighbors in the native region.
Replying to an earlier inquiry of her
son as to why she rejects his Lutheran faith,
Endris outlines her views in sharp words,
creating a rigid division between the righ-
teous and the unrighteous and their ways of
life. She urges her son and daughters, still in
Württemberg, to separate themselves from
the sinful world and join the Hutterites for
IN HER OWN VOICE
Täuferakten
individual volumes varies.23
afp-stjerna.indd 216
their souls’ salvation. It comes as no sur-
notions of baptism and the Eucharist. In the
hands of the Lutherans, Endris argues, bap-
tism has become a meaningless act without
a basis in Scripture or Apostolic practice.
The Lutherans have rendered the Lord’s
Supper to shameful idolatry, endangering
the salvation of the sinners who believe
falsely they will be saved by swallowing “a
piece of the sacrament,” whereas—in the
Anabaptist interpretation—the Eucharist
should be celebrated in remembrance of
She further places a strong emphasis
on the conversion of a “new” Christian,
necessitating a break with the old life.
Endris herself has taken that step and left
her old home behind to start a new exis-
tence in Moravia. At the same time, the
fact that she is still corresponding with her
son who clearly does not share her reli-
gious views indicates that not all family
ties were or indeed could be severed. On
the contrary, this letter can easily be read
also as the cry of a mother acutely wor-
ried about the eternal life of her children.
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris 217

have been translated into English. Individual sources can be found in the Mennonite
Quarterly Review. Among newer English translations are also some concerning Ana-
baptist martyrologies.24

Anna Scharnschlager’s Letter to Her Brother, ca. 1535

Kindest, dearest brother, I send you my friendly regards. I am always glad to hear
that you and your wife, as well as my other friends [frunten],25 are in good health of
mind and body.
My dear brother. Since I was forced to yield and move away many years ago with
my husband [the Anabaptist leader Leupold Scharnschlager] because of the then
and now persecution, suffering and religious pressure, to save his life, limb, and
conscience, I have written since the departure of me and my husband several times
to my beloved brother-in-law, the lawyer Hanns Steger, about my belongings and
clothes which I left in his and my sister’s custody. However, I have not yet received
an answer from them. I do not know what the reason for this is. I think that perhaps
he has not been able to have a messenger until now. That is why I ask you kindly
as my dear brother, that you will do so well and go quickly to my brother-in-law,
the lawyer, so that he may give you an answer to my writing; and in particular to
[the letter] which I recently wrote only a month or two ago, asking him to keep
my clothing and household goods [plunder]26 faithfully for me until I may bring
them into my possession, once I shall be in need of them, and that he will write
to me here his will and opinion in this matter. [I will] act according to it and be
pleased by such an answer showing his good, brotherly will, trustworthiness, and
friendship, which I hope will remain undiminished with him towards me and my
husband, especially because of Fronica,27 my deceased sister, and because of Galg,
my former husband, his brother.28
Dear brother, and may you then send such a letter for me, as soon as you can
have a messenger, into the hands of Pilgram Marpeck. He will know well how to
send it to me. But if the lawyer has not received my letters, you may well tell or
write him that the main content of such letters is that I have asked him to keep
my clothes and household goods [plunder] faithfully until I send for them. I will
also have you ask him, once I send for it [my property], whether I should request
it in Hopfgarten or Kitzbühel, [so that I will know] how to proceed according
to it. This I desire together with Leupold, my husband, who greets you together
with me faithfully and kindly, so that [I/we] become indebted and grateful to you
in amity, my dear brother.29 I married my daughter Ursula to a clockmaker about
two years ago; [they] are now in Moravia. Children have already been born. Also
give my faithful regards to your wife, also to my cousin, [Mrs.] Kalb’s daughter,

afp-stjerna.indd 217 22/4/15 12:16 AM

 218 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations

who is in your house. Dearest brother, I also ask you to write to me yourself how
you and your wife and other friends of ours have fared, so that I may know and be

without doubt.30 Amen.31

Margarethe Endris’s Letter to Her Son, 1574

I wish you, my dear son Elias, and your wife, all the best, especially what is nec-
essary and useful for the salvation of the soul. At your request, I inform you that I
and my two children are well, thanks be to God for everything. Jörgl is at the mill,
learning the miller’s trade. You also write to me that my two daughters want to
come and stay with me. It would be a joy for me if they come with righteous hearts32

me here as their mother.

And you also wrote to me, dear son, that you would like to know where you
are mistaken in your faith. It would be better to explain that orally than by writ-
ing. But know hereby that you and your Christianity, as you call it, have strayed far
from the truth, from the divine commandments, from the pure teaching of Christ,
and from the true faith, and have twisted the Christian order and customs. You
have turned Christian baptism, which God has ordained for believers and those
who understand, into a child’s play and a childish act, something that Christ and
his apostles never administered. The high mystery of Christ’s supper is perverted
among you into idolatry, idolism, and money dealings,33 and it entices people to

of the sacrament.
Oh, it is a far cry.34 The Holy Scripture35 says whoever believes in Jesus Christ

wicked. They [false Christians] do not walk the narrow path of Christian virtues,
but the wide road of sins and vices. They only do as the Devil pleases. [The Devil] is
now the prince of the world, whom they serve day and night, the priest as well as the

fornication and frivolity36 and idolatry, arrogance, self-love, and pride,37 for they
do not know how best to please the arrogant Lucifer. Are these Christians or the
Christian Church, as they claim to be?
Oh no, it is a far cry. The Word of God, the holy Gospel, does not need Chris-
tians like that. True Christian faith bears no such fruit. It has a completely differ-
ent effect. You profess your faith in the holy Christian church, but your church
is an unholy association of those who disgrace the precious name of God and
curse relentlessly, which is the way of the Devil. You also confess in your faith the

afp-stjerna.indd 218 22/4/15 12:16 AM

 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris 219

communion of saints, but what a great community, where if one could put every-
thing in his own bag, he would gladly do it, so that the other would have noth-
ing. There are many more errors of your faith and false life, but it would take too
long to write more about them.
But this will remind you, my dear son, of the faith and Christianity in which
you stand. Therefore, my request and that of my children is that you would con-
vert, leave and separate yourself from such seductions and great delusion, and live
your life differently. For God wants a people who are separated [from the world].
And Christ says: Anyone who is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God,
that is, who does not live his life differently, in another way, in another sense and
for another purpose, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, my dear son,
contemplate my account, ask God for mercy and understanding day and night, let
nothing hold you back, turn to God and join his people too. For we have no doubt
that this is the people of God, the right way, the narrow door, the true faith, by
which to become righteous and saved in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Join
us too, you and your wife and my two daughters who are still outside. That is our
heartfelt request. Written in Moravia in April 1574 by me Margarethe, your faith-
ful mother, residing with my children Gretel and Jörg at Wastitz in Moravia.
The letter is to be handed over safely to my dear son Elias Endris, residing in
Horrheim, in the [Holy Roman] Empire.38

Notes 5 Marion Kobelt-Groch,

1 For an overview of recent Anabaptist stud-
ies, see John D. Roth and James M. Stayer,
eds., A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritual-
(Leiden: Brill, 2007).
2 See, for example, Päivi Räisänen-Schröder,
“Between Martyrdom and Everyday Prag-
matism: Gender, Family, and Anabaptism
in Early Modern Germany,” in Gender in
Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed.
Marianna Muravyeva and Raisa Maria
Toivo (New York: Routledge, 2013),
89–105.
3 C. Arnold Snyder, introduction to
Pioneers, ed. C. Arnold Snyder and Linda
Huebert Hecht (Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid
Laurier University Press, 1996), 4.
4 See, for example, Claus-Peter Clasen, Ana-
(Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1972), 205–7.
-
bewegungen (Frankfurt: Campus, 1993).
6 See, for example, Snyder, introduction to
Snyder and Huebert Hecht, , 9; and
Gary K. Waite, Mirjam van Veen, and Piet
Visser, introduction to Sisters: Myth and Real-
, ed. Mirjiam van Veen
et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 4.
7 Sigrun Haude “Anabaptist Women—
Radical Women?,” in
German Culture, ed. Max Reinhart (Kirks-
ville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal,
1998), 313–27.
8 Päivi Räisänen, Ketzer im Dorf: Visitationsver-
-
ter im früheuzeitlichen Württemberg (Constance,
Germany: Uvk, 2011), 255–322.
9 Haude, “Anabaptist Women,” 317–18,
326.

afp-stjerna.indd 219 22/4/15 12:16 AM

 220 Dutch, Swiss, and Anabaptist Women for the Reformations
10 van Veen et al., Sisters.
11 Adam Michael Bonikowske, “Anabap-
tist Masculinity in Reformation Europe”
(master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, 2013), https://dc.uwm.edu/
etd/80; and Katharina Reinholdt, Ein Leib
- Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer, vol. 1,
tum der Frühen Neuzeit (Göttingen, Germany:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012).
12 Translated in Hermina Joldersma and
Louis Peter Grijp, eds., Elisabeth’s Manly
Courage: Anabaptist Women Martyrs (Milwau-
kee: Marquette University Press, 2001),
187–91.
13 For a biography of Helene von Freyberg
and the translation of her confession, see
Linda Huebert Hecht, “Helene von Frey-
berg,” in Snyder and Huebert Hecht, Pro-
, 124–39.
14 For more details, see Martina Bick,
“‘Pleased Be God, Dear Housewife and
Sister in the Lord’: Gender Aspects in the
Hymns of the Early Anabaptist Move-
ment,” in van Veen et al., Sisters, 121–32.
15 C. Arnold Snyder, “The South German /
Austrian Anabaptist Context,” in Snyder
and Huebert Hecht, , 71–75.
16 Anna Scharnschlager’s story is also told by
Walter Klaassen, “Anna Scharnschlager of
Hopfgarten, Tirol,” in Snyder and Huebert
Hecht, , 58–63.
17 Some of them are included in the Ger-
man edition of the so-called Kunstbuch
manuscript.
18 See also Huebert Hecht, “Helene von Frey-
berg,” 58–63.
19 Anna Scharnschlager to Regina Anfang,
March 21, 1546, in Quellen zur Geschichte der
, vol. 2, Ostschweiz, ed.
Heinold Fast (Zürich: Theologischer Ver-
lag, 1952), 521.
20 Snyder, “South German / Austrian Ana-
baptist Context,” 71–75.
21 Wes Harrison, “The Role of Women in
Anabaptist Thought and Practice: The
Hutterite Experience of the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries,”
Journal 23, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 57.
afp-stjerna.indd 220
22 Visitation protocol of Horrheim, July
1574, in Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer,
vol. 1, Herzogtum Württemberg, ed. Gustav
Bossert (Leipzig: M. Heinsius, 1930), 417.
23 The translated letters of Scharnschlager
and Endris are retrieved from this series:
and , vol. 2.
Some of Leupold Scharnschlager’s writ-
ings can be found in Briefe und Schriften
-
stbuch’ des Jörg Probst Rotenfelder gen. Maler,
ed. Heinold Fast and Martin Rothkegel
(Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher Verlag-
shaus, 2007).
24 For example, Joldersma and Grijp, Elisa-
beth’s Manly Courage.
25 Bracketed words appear in the German
original. The sixteenth-century meaning of
frunten (Freunden) is a broader one, encom-
passing also relatives. See Deutsches Wör-
terbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm
(hereafter cited as DWB), vol. 4, col. 162,
digitalisierte Fassung im Wörterbuchnetz
des Trier Center for Digital Humanities,
accessed April 21, 2021, https://www
.woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB.
26 The modern translation of plunder as trinkets
does not seem plausible here, as Scharn-
schlager clearly attaches a lot of value to
her belongings. The translation here follows
dictionary as clothes, linen, and other house-
hold goods. See DWB vol. 13, col. 1945. We
know, however, that among the possessions
of Anna Scharnschlager were also some
pieces of jewelry and adorned rosaries.
27 Veronica Steger, née Scharnschlager, was
Anna’s sister who had been married to
Hans Steger.
28
Galgus Steger, brother of Hans Steger. Ger-
hard Hein and William Klassen, “Scharn-
schlager, Leupold (d. 1563),” Global Anabaptist
Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (1959), accessed
April 22, 2021, https://gameo.org/index
.php ?title = Scharnschlager, _Leupold _ (d.
_1563)&oldid=166260.
22/4/15 12:16 AM
 Anna Scharnschlager (d. 1564) and Margarethe Endris
29 An unclear passage in the original Ger-
man: “umb dich als meinen lieben bruder
fruntlich zu verdienen und beschulden.”
30 Another unclear passage: “auf das ich auch
erfar oder vertrostet sei, mich noch bruder-
licher trew von natur zu dier versehen, als
31 , 2:511–13.
Translation by Päivi Räisänen-Schröder,
the author.
32 The original reads “mit eim rechten
herzen.”
33 The original reads “abgötterei, götzen-
dienst und geltkram.” According to the
Grimm dictionary, geltkram is equivalent to
geldhandel, the dealing with money or trade.
See DWB, vol. 3, col. 2915. This phrase
remains somewhat unclear because, as the
editor of the letter in the printed edition
notes, there was no tradition of a penitent’s
fee in Württemberg. It could refer to either
a payment in kind when registering for
church services in Württemberg. Quellen zur
, 2:410n2.
34 The original reads “es ist weit feel.”
35 A note in the margin refers to Acts 13 and
Romans 10.
36 The original reads büeberei, which in
sixteenth-century usage refers to loose mor-
als, often used in connection with the devil.
See DWB, vol. 2, col. 465.
37
stolz,” which could all be translated as arro-
gance or pride.
38 Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer,
1:410–12. Translation by Päivi Räisänen-
Schröder, the author.
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