HOFFMANN, MELCHIOR. - An Anabaptist, b. at Schäwbach-Hall about 1500, d. at Strasburgo in 1543. A humble furrier, H. was so deeply affected by Lutheran doctrine that he abandoned his trade in order to set himself up as a lay preacher of the Reformation. He thus travelled through almost the whole of Germany, Flanders, and even Livonia—where he is recorded in 1523—boldly mingling Luther’s doctrines with personal eschatological and social views.
Indeed, interpreting the Johannine writings in his own manner, he came to predict the imminent end of the world; in the social sphere he became the advocate of a kind of communism, and consequently found fanatical followers who gave themselves over to devastation and plundering, especially of religious institutions. H.’s followers were particularly numerous in Holland, where they took the name of Melchiorites.
He subsequently detached himself from Lutheranism in order to adhere to Anabaptism; he therefore incurred persecution from the Lutherans. Having moved to Strasburgo in 1533, he was arrested there and spent the last ten years of his life in prison.