Friedrich Brecklings, Wahrheitszeugen‘: Ein Handbuch zum religiösen Nonkonformismus um 1700

Gothaer Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit, Band 23

Guido Naschert

On account of his criticism of the spiritual state of the Church and the way it confused spiritual and secular tasks, Friedrich Breckling (1629–1711), a north German Lutheran, fled to the Netherlands where he lived for half a century. Based in Amsterdam, Zwolle and The Hague, Breckling built up a wide-reaching network of like-minded correspondents. Through his travels to other places and through the visitors he received, he became a leading networker of pietist and mystic-spiritualist Nonconformists in Europe. This is the first time the lists of the people he denoted “Witnesses to the Truth” and the books he recommended have been published and annotated.