Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia Quotes

“For anyone who would not accept military obligations, no expansion of land ownership would be permitted. For Mennonite families with several sons, there was now little prospect of acquiring more land. Acquisition of land was to be allowed only under special and pre-approved arrangements.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“The new king responded that he had no intention of freeing additional land from the normal military obligations associated with that land. New decrees specified that the old laws would be tightened. Mennonite leaders responded by petitioning the king for a relaxation of prescribed restrictions.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“The royal government wanted a census in order to get a more complete picture of the number of Mennonites living in the territory newly acquired from Poland (now given the name of West Prussia) and to enumerate those living in East Prussia as well. This indicated that 13,495 Mennonites resided in this region (excluding Danzig).33 Mennonite leaders were now informed that they as a body would be responsible for paying 5,000 thalers for the support of a military academy in Kulm.34 How this sum should be raised was their responsibility. Mennonites remained concerned about the census and sent several delegations to the king over the next several years in an attempt to get a formal declaration concerning exemption from military service.35 They also requested exemption from paying dues to Catholic or Protestant churches, but that issue would not be settled for decades.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Nevertheless, they were forbidden to buy land from non-Mennonites, except by special permission of the war ministry, since military obligations were based on land ownership.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Thus, in X75 o King Augustus III noted that Mennonites living in the territories of "Graudenz, Schwetz, Neuenburg, and those who live in other parts of Prussia ... have protested that they have been subjected to injustices, and curtailment of practice of their Mennonite religion."25”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“In the Vistula Valley, between the delta and Thorn, there was great variation in education policies. In a few instances, as in Montau, Mennonites were permitted to have their own schools or to conduct classes in
their church buildings. Lutherans also established schools, but they increasingly found that Catholic bishops were determined to control education. Thus, in 1745 the parish of Sibsau near Schwetz recorded 308 Catholic, 203 Lutheran, and 236 Mennonite school children. Pressure from the local bishop eventually brought almost all schools in surrounding villages under his control.78 Similar episcopal policies were implemented in the Lubin parish, where 85 Lutheran, 94 Mennonite, and 9 Catholic farm owners all had to contribute to the maintenance of five schools under Catholic direction.79 Likewise, in Schonsee, where Mennonites had been given extensive privileges as early as the late sixteenth century, an unsympathetic official in 1725 declared that although "the parish is filled with many Anabaptists or Mennonites,"80 payment of (Catholic) church and school dues should be rigorously enforced.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“One issue that was treated gingerly was the acceptance of converts from other faiths into Mennonite churches. Officials of both the Catholic and Protestant churches repeatedly issued warnings forbidding their members to join Mennonite congregations and requested that city councils take steps to prevent this. Evidently, this issue remained a concern, for instances of intermarriage appear repeatedly in civil and church records.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Confession or Brief, Simple Statement of Faith of Those Who are Called Mennonites in Prussia"35”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Confederation of Warsaw declared that Poland was a land of religious toleration and”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“As Lutheran church leaders tried to stabilize support of their churches, the administrator of the Tiegenhof area asserted that church dues were bound to the land. Mennonites "who buy farmsteads from Lutherans ... acquire the customary village obligations toward the Lutheran churches."27 Repeatedly, religious and civil administrators insisted that church assessments were tied to land, not to persons. For their part, Mennonite communities often paid the assessments for widows and others who were in financial need.28”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Several congregations had received permission to build churches before Danzig Mennonites were permitted to do so. Thus, in the village of Montau in the vicinity of Kulm, Mennonites were allowed to build their first church in the Vistula valley as early as 1586.8”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Tensions also arose with the local landlord, a Polish noble who demanded that Mennonite settlers on his lands perform the same scutage services provided by Polish settlers. For Mennonites, who had come as free persons and not as serfs, this seemed a novel and extraordinary request. A number of them began to look for better opportunities elsewhere.41 In 1764, delegates from Jeziorka went to Berlin to explore settlement pos- sibilities.42 Such a move would mean leaving Polish jurisdiction and moving to lands ruled by Frederick II. One of the king's officials, Franz Balthasar Schonberg von Brenkenhoff, was charged with bringing new settlers to the Netze (Noted) River region, near Driesen in Brandenburg, some 130 miles west of Toruri.43 When he invited Mennonites to settle there, they accepted. In 1764, twenty-eight Mennonite families received
settlement rights, with specified privileges. They were granted religious freedom, exemption from military service and the swearing of oaths, and each received forty morgen of land. Later they also received permission to establish and maintain their own schools. In the spring of 1765, thirty-five families arrived at their new home; the twenty-eight from Jeziorka had been joined by others from Przechowka and Sch6nsee.44 Several treks eventually brought some 166 Mennonites to the area.45”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Another village, Kleinsee (Jeziorka), arose to the west of the Vistula. In 1727 some Mennonite families settled here and were granted a lease for forty years by the owner, Hedwig von Steffens-Wybczyriski.39 They were promised freedom of religious practices, provided that they continue the parish dues previously granted the Catholic Church. In 1732 religious pressures on Mennonites residing near Kulm led twelve families to join the group in Kleinsee. Further expansion of the community came in the following years. The new settlers were given the usual lease of forty years. In this instance, the lease-holders agreed to a special condition: they would perform two days of work annually for the landowner.40 A small village, Kempe Ostrowo, later known as Ehrental, was also established on the left bank, with only five Mennonite families. Later, the Vistula changed course, and the village was now on the right bank. Several floods, poor soil quality, and differences with Catholic authorities plagued the settlements in both Kleinsee and Ehrental, and no strong, thriving community ever emerged here.”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Although help and counsel flowed both ways, recipients were not always ready to accept advice. In 1615 several churches in Royal Prussia wrote to Mennonites in the Netherlands and urged them to resolve divisions and disputes among themselves.30 Apparently the Dutch Mennonites were less than enthusiastic about the spiritual counseling received from Royal Prussia; they now chose representatives to go to the Mennonite congregations in the Vistula Delta to enlighten them about the real situation in Amsterdam. Even if Dutch congregations were not always eager to accept advice and discipline from congregations in Royal Prussia, the event demonstrates strong mutual concern.
In both countries, Mennonites attempted to transcend political boundaries. Throughout most of the sixteenth and much of the seventeenth centuries, Mennonites in the Netherlands and in Royal Prussia together tried to assist their co-religionists in other lands. Efforts were made at congregational and government levels, for example, when fellow believers were harshly treated in Switzerland, where authorities still resorted to burning of "heretics" as late as the early seventeenth century. For Mennonites in the Netherlands and in Royal Prussia, such policies provided another opportunity to”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

“Although help and counsel flowed both ways, recipients were not always ready to accept advice. In 1615 several churches in Royal Prussia wrote to Mennonites in the Netherlands and urged them to resolve divisions and disputes among themselves.30 Apparently the Dutch Mennonites were less than enthusiastic about the spiritual counseling received from Royal Prussia;”
― Peter J. Klassen, Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia