Jacob Hutter was born at Moos in the Puster Valley, near Bruneck (South Tyrol). He became a hat maker by trade. Hutter joined an Anabaptist group in Tyrol in 1529 and was baptized & chosen for a minister. While still in Tyrol, he joined an Anabaptist group in Austerlitz in Moravia, led by Jacob Wiederman.
In 1528 Wiederman became the leader of a group of German, Swiss and Tyrolean Anabaptists who had sought refuge in Moravia. Hutter moved to Moravia in 1533. Hutter was an outspoken leader, and he also espoused community of goods (meaning the equal sharing of all goods by the church membership). This body of Anabaptists led by Wiederman & Hutter became established, especially through the organizational skills of Hutter, and survive today as the Hutterites or Hutterian Brethren.
In May of 1535, Jacob Hutter married Katherine Purst. In November of 1535, Hutter was betrayed to the authorities, arrested and taken to Innsbruck for trial. He was interrogated, tortured and publicly put to death by fire on February 25, 1536. His wife Katherine was executed two years1 later.
[1] some sources say she was executed the same dayExternal link
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