Sex, Blasphemy, and the Block: The Trial and Execution of Ludwig Hätzer

In early 1529, the Protestant authorities of Constance executed Ludwig Hatzer for disobedience and moral depravity. Although the court documents avoided any reference to his religious teachings, contemporaries speculated about the role that perceptions—that he was an Anabaptist who espoused heretical opinions—played in his conviction. This article uses Hatzer’s trial and execution as an opportunity to reflect on two topics of interest in studies of the early Reformation: the reluctance of reformers to level charges of heresy against each other, and their re-evaluation of human sexuality resulting from the rejection of clerical celibacy. Au debut de 1529, les autorites protestantes de Constance ont execute Ludwig Hatzer pour desobeissance et depravation morale. Bien que les documents juridiques evitent toute reference a ses enseignements religieux, ses contemporains ont multiplie les conjectures au sujet du role qu’a joue dans sa condamnation la conviction qu’il etait un anabaptiste ayant des croyances heretiques. Cet article examine le proces et l’execution de Hatzer afin de reflechir a deux questions importantes pour les etudes du debut de la Reforme : la resistance des reformateurs a engager des accusations d’heresies contre d’autres tenants de la Reforme, et leur reconsideration de la sexualite suite au rejet du celibate sacerdotal.