Eibenschitz (Jihomoravský kraj, Czech Republic)
Eibenschitz (German for Ivančice, Evančice or Wančice), a town situated on the Iglau, in the Brno district of Moravia, population in 1950s 5,000, mostly Czech (9,300 in 2005). In the 1420s the Hussite doctrine won numerous adherents and prospered here. During the Reformation the Protestants shared the town church with the Utraquists, the former using the smaller part, the latter the larger. In the outskirts of the city some Swiss Protestants had a church and a school; the Swiss Brethren had their meetinghouse in a lane in a suburb. There were also some Schwenckfeldians in the town. The Hutterian Brethren, however, held their services in the neighboring village of Alexovitz (known also as Olekovitz and Alecotz). When the Brethren of Alexovitz are mentioned in the chronicles, those living in Ivančice are also meant.
In Ivančice and probably also Alexovitz the Hutterites settled about 1527 and 1528 (Beck, 68); the baronial Lipa family received them kindly. In Alexovitz they had a Bruderhof (Beck, 393) with deacons (352) and preachers (352). The Swiss Brethren had their center in a suburb of Ivančice (152). Although the people of Ivančice were absolved of blame in the revolt against Ferdinand II, the non-Catholic inhabitants were so severely oppressed that the Hutterites of Alexovitz preferred to move to Alwinc in Transylvania (396); those who did not leave voluntarily were expelled in 1622, and joined the colonies in Transylvania. There they had ordained Konrad Hirzl as preacher on 6 August 1621; in the following year he voluntarily resigned.
Through the withdrawal of these capable people and, of course, also through the devastation of the Thirty Years' War Ivančice fell into a decline from which it never fully recovered.
Beck, Josef. Die Geschichts-Bücher der Wiedertäufer in Oesterreich-Ungarn. Vienna, 1883; reprinted Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1967.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 532 f.
Wolny, Gregor. Die Markgrafschaft Mähren: topographisch, statistisch und historisch geschildert. 2. ed.: III, 335-341.
Cite This Article
Loserth, Johann. "Eibenschitz (Jihomoravský kraj, Czech Republic)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 20 Nov 2017. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Eibenschitz_(Jihomoravsk%C3%BD_kraj,_Czech_Republic)&oldid=144102.
Loserth, Johann. (1956). Eibenschitz (Jihomoravský kraj, Czech Republic). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 20 November 2017, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Eibenschitz_(Jihomoravsk%C3%BD_kraj,_Czech_Republic)&oldid=144102.
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