ANABAPTISTS, a term applied generally to those Christians who reject infant bap tism, and administer the rite only to adults; so that when a new member joins them, he or she is baptized a second time, the first being considered no baptism. The name (Gr. to baptize again) is thus owing to an accidental circumstance, and is disclaimed by the more recent opponents of infant baptism, both on the continent and in Great Britain.
The origin of the sect cannot be distinctly traced; but it is manifestly connected with the controversy about infant baptism carried on in the early church. Opposition to this doctrine was kept alive in the various so-called heretical sects that went by the general name of Cathari (i.e., purists), such as the Waldenses, Albigenses, etc. Shortly after the beginning of the reformation, the opposition to infant baptism appeared anew, especially among a set of fanatical enthusiasts called the prophets of Zwickau, in Saxony, at whose head were Thomas MiInzer (q.v.) (1520) and others. Munzer went to Waldshut, on the borders of Switzerland, which soon became a chief seat of anabaptism, and a center whence visionaries and fanatics spread over Switzerland. They pretended to new revelations, dreamed of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth, and sum moned princes to join them, on pain of losing their temporal power. They rejected infant baptism, and taught that those who joined them must be baptized anew with the baptism of the Spirit; they also proclaimed the community of goods, and the equality of all Christians. These doctrines naturally fell in with and supported the " peasant war" (q.v.) that had about that time (1525) broken out from real causes of oppression. The sect spread rapidly through Westphalia, Holstein, and the Netherlands, in spite of the severest persecutions. The battle of Frankenhausen (see MUNZER) crushed their progress in Saxony and Franconia. Still, scattered adherents of the doctrines continued, and were again brought together in various places by traveling preachers. In this capacity, one Melchior Hoff mann, a furrier of Swabia, distinguished himself, who appeared as a visionary preacher in Kiel in 1527, and in Emden in 1858. In the last town he installed a baker, John Matthiesen, of Haarlem, as bishop, and then went to Strasburg, where he died in prison.
Matthiesen began to send out apostles of the new doctrine. Two of these went to Minster, where they found fanatical coadjutors in the Protestant minister Rothmann, and the burghers Knipperdolling and Krechting, and were shortly joined by the tailor Bockhold, of Leyden, and Gerrit Kippenbrock, of Amsterdam, a bookbinder, and at last by Matthiesen himself. With their adherents, they soon made themselves masters of the city; Matthiesen set up as a prophet, and when he lost his life in a sally against the bishop of Minister, who was besieging the town, Bockhold and Knipperdolling took his place. The churches were now destroyed, and 12 judges were appointed over the tribes, as among the Israelites; and Bockhold (1534) had himself crowned king•of the "New Sion," under the name of John of Leyden. The Anabaptist madness in Munster now went beyond all bounds. The city became the scene of the wildest licentiousness; until several Protestant princes, uniting with the bishop, took the city, and by executing the leaders, put an end to the new kingdom (1535).
But the principles disseminated by the A. were not so easily crushed. As early as 1533 the adherents of the sect had been driven, from Emden, and taken refuge in the Netherlands; and in Amsterdam the doctrine took root and spread. Bockhold also had sent out apostles, some of whom had given up the wild fanaticism of their master; they let alone the community of goods and women, and taught the other doctrines of the A., and the establishment of a new kingdom of pure Christians. They grounded their doc trines chiefly on the Apocalypse. One of the most distinguished of this class was David Joris, a glass-painter of Delft (1501-1556). Joris united liberalism with anabaptism, devoted himself to mystic theology, and sought to effect a union of parties. He acquired many adherents,who studied his book of miracles ( Trunderbitch), which appeared at Deventer in 1542, and looked upon him as a sort of new Messiah. Being persecuted, he withdrew from his party, lived inoffensively at Basle, under the name of John of Bruges, and died there in the communion of the reformed church. It was only in 1559 that Vis heretical doctrines came to light, when the council of Basle had the bones of Joris dug up, and burned under the gallows.