| The problem of the rise of religious dissent in the sixteenth century has been explored from many angles. The relationship between Anabaptists and Protestant theologians as well as the ideas and theology of the dissenters have been the subjects of many works. However, the impact of religious dissent and its suppression on the governments of early modern Europe have only been scantly researched.;This dissertation explores the ways in which early modern German governments attempted to crush Anabaptism and other religious dissent in a comprehensive manner. It focuses on the former Margravate of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach during the reign of Margrave George "the pious," though it deals with government suppression of Anabaptism throughout the Holy Roman Empire. By using the methods of political and social history, I hope to illuminate both the overarching political context of the suppression as well as the individual experiences of both officials and imprisoned dissidents. Archival sources and collections of printed primary documents from modern day Bavaria provide the data for this work.;My research yielded the following results: The measures of Margrave George against religious dissent grew out of local developments in Franconia and not from a centralized imperial policy. The Franconian ruler was, like most of his colleagues, convinced of the revolutionary nature of Anabaptism and believed it was his religious duty to God to enforce religious unity. His efforts to punish Anabaptists, largely by trying to force nonconformists to recant, and then by expelling those who refused, were largely dependent on a small number of local officials. Because of their lack of resources and not because of their lack of effort or faith in the margrave's policy, these officials met with only limited success. |
