Origins & Early Life

Menno Simons (Dutch: [ˈmɛnoː ˈsimɔns]; West Frisian: Minne Simens [ˈmɪnə ˈsimə̃ːs]; 1496 – 31 January 1561) was a Roman Catholic priest from the Friesland region of the Low Countries who renounced the Catholic Church and became an influential Anabaptist religious leader. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and it is from his name that his followers became known as Mennonites. Menno Simons was born in 1496 in Witmarsum, Friesland, Holy Roman Empire. Very little is known concerning his childhood and family except that he grew up in a poor peasant environment.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

His father's name was Simon, Simons being a patronym, and he had a brother named Pieter. Simons grew up in a disillusioned war-torn country. Friesland was ravaged by war in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Landsknecht soldiers haunted the Frisian lands in the 1490s to force the 'Free' Frisians to accept the Duke of Saxony-Meissen as their head of state. The duke was the governor of the Netherlands for the Habsburg family.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

One of the archenemies of the Habsburgs, the Duke of Guelders, invaded Friesland in 1515 and conquered half of it. Saxony ceded the other half to the Habsburgs...

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