Heinrich Krechting ( – 28 June 1580) was a leader of the radical
Anabaptist movement in Münster.
Krechting was the son of the town clerk and organist Engelbert Krechting. He attended grammar school and married Elsle Oedefelt in 1526, daughter of a Schöppingen draper. They had four children. In 1531 he became mayor in Schöppingen. A year later he became a judge and ''
Gograf'' (presiding judge) in the greatest ''
Gogericht The ''Landgericht'' (plural: ''Landgerichte''), also called the ''Landtag'' in Switzerland, was a regional magistracy or court in the Holy Roman Empire that was responsible for high justice within a territory, such as a county (''Grafschaft''), on b ...
'' (regional court) of
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
.
In fall 1533
Jan van Leiden
John of Leiden (born Johan Beukelszoon; 2 February 1509 – 22 January 1536) was a Dutch Anabaptist leader. In 1533 he moved to Münster, capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, where he became an influential prophet, turned the city into ...
visited him, who possibly baptized him in January 1534. When
Johann von der Wieck was arrested in early 1534, he fled with a large number of other citizens to Münster, where his brother
Bernhard Krechting
Bernhard Krechting (before 1500 – January 22, 1536) was one of the leaders of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster.
Krechting was born in Schöppingen, Münster, the son of the town clerk and church musician Engelbert Krechting. Like his five b ...
already was an Anabaptist preacher. Leiden appointed Krechting as his secretary and later as "Chancellor of the Kingdom" - his personal representative. Krechting was responsible for organizing the defenders against the siege.
As the cathedral fell through treachery after 16 months on 25 June 1535, Krechting barricaded himself with a few hundred survivors on the principal market in a
wagon fort
A wagon fort, wagon fortress, or corral, often referred to as Circle the wagons (idiom), circling the wagons, is a temporary fortification made of wagons arranged into a rectangle, circle, or other shape and possibly joined with each other to pro ...
. They fought fiercely, and it was decided to guarantee the fighters their lives and a safe passage if they laid down their arms. Krechting and 24 of his comrades were allowed to leave town with a bishop's permit and 10 gold florins.
Krechting fled first to
Lingen
Lingen (), officially Lingen (Ems), is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2008, its population was 52,353, and in addition there were about 5,000 people who registered the city as their secondary residence. Lingen, specifically "Lingen (Ems)" is ...
and tried with the toleration of Count Anton of
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to:
Places
*Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica
*Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany
**Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony
*Olde ...
to rally the Anabaptists again. After the execution of
Jan van Batenburg in February 1538, he was leader of the radical Anabaptists. His efforts to choose a new king and win back Münster during the Oldenburg feud in 1538 failed due to the weakness of his movement.
When Count Anton of Oldenburg removed the Anabaptists from his country in 1538, Krechting was able to remain and find shelter in Gödens. Nothing more is known about his work as an Anabaptist after that time. In 1580, he died a respected man. His grandson Knechting and his great-grandson Hermann Wachmann were mayors of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krechting, Heinrich
1501 births
1580 deaths
German Anabaptists