"(1529): In April of this year the citizens of Valencia were treated to a spectacular visitation by an itinerant preacher identified only as "Melchior of Wurttemberg," and who must have been the celebrated Anabaptist Melchior Hoffman.
On this occasion Melchior suddenly appeared in the streets of
--the power to perform miracles,
--that he had searched over the world seeking a true follower of Christ and had found none,
--and that the world would come to an end in 1533,
--when the whole planet would be drowned in blood.
One Sunday he began to harangue some people outside the church of Saint Catherine in Valencia, warning them of the dire need to ready themselves for the horrendous events to come.
When he sought to enter the church to bring his message to those inside, he had to be restrained by the porters. Melchior was denounced (April 22 and 24) to the inquisitors of Valencia and was seized soon after.
Under torture he confessed that he had visited Luther in Wittenberg. The Valencia inquisitors were apparently perplexed by this case, and requested advice from the Suprema, which sent the following recommendation (September 18):
"Our vote and opinion is that the said Melchior be questioned as to how long ago it was that he went to see and speak with Luther, and whether he knew at that time that the said Luther had been pronounced a heretic. [He should also be asked ] whether he had any doubts regarding any articles of our holy faith, since he says in his confession that he went [to Wittenberg] to find out whether Luther's was a true or a false sect, and later under torture he said that Luther was light minded and had no constancy of faith. If it should appear from his reply that he had any doubts about the faith, or that he lent any credulity to the heresies and errors of Luther, see that justice is done [i.e., burn him]. If nothing further should result from these inquiries, beyond what has already been ascertained in his trial, one may conclude that the things of which he stands accused are the empty ravings of a madman, and that one need not pay as much attention to them as one would if they had been uttered by a person of sense and repute."
However, the members of the Suprema did not feel that the prisoner's sins should go unpunished. They recommended, therefore, that he be given one hundred lashes and be banished from Spain.
The Valencia inquisitors, in accordance with their instructions,
He swore that he had no confidence or faith in anything connected with Martin Luther.
Thus reassured that whatever Melchior was, he was not a Lutheran, the inquisitors voted to carry out the sentence recommended by their superiors, and very soon after that, Melchior of Wurttemberg disappeared from Spain as suddenly as he had come."
Luther'sGhostInSpain/JohnLonghurst
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