After the debate doesn’t go the way they hoped, the Bible study group switches to another location to discuss their way forward, and their lives and the Christian church would never be the same again.
Timeline (all dates 1525):
- January 14: Jakob Hottinger interrupted a sermon by Kaspar Megander.
- January 17: Zurich hosts its first debate on the issue of baptism.
- January 21: A group from the Andreas Castelberger reading circle gather instead at the home of Felix Manz’ mother Anna. George Blaurock asks to be baptized and then baptizes everyone else in the room.
- January 21–29: The first Anabaptist congregation is established in Zollikon, near Zurich, quickly growing to include 35 converts.
- January 25: A religious service is held at the home of Rudi Thoman in Zollikon. During this meeting, George Blaurock performs a simple celebration of Holy Communion, breaking the bread into pieces (“ze stuken”), and Felix Manz performs baptisms using a kitchen ladle.
- January 29: Blaurock publicly defies the state church by entering the Zollikon church and demanding that the parish priest vacate the pulpit.
- January 30: Zurich police arrest Blaurock, Manz, and 24 farmers from Zollikon. They are imprisoned in the Augustinian monastery.
- February 18: Blaurock and Manz are released from custody after being warned they would later face Zwingli for further interrogation.
- March 20–23: The Second Zurich Anabaptist Disputation is held.
- March 25: The Zurich Council issues a verdict fining local followers and issuing an immediate expulsion order for foreigners, specifically “Jeorg von Chur, called Blawrock”.
- Easter 1525: Conrad Grebel travels to St. Gallen, where he reportedly baptizes approximately 300 people in the Sitter River.
- Easter 1525: Wilhelm Reublin travels to Waldshut to bring news to Balthasar Hubmaier, who responds by asking for baptism. Hubmaier then baptizes close to 300 others in Waldshut.
- May 1525: Manz and Blaurock collaborate to spread the movement in Chur, leading to their arrest by the local council. Manz is eventually sent back to Zurich.
- Summer 1525: Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock preach in the Zurich Oberland (Grüningen district) during a period of peasant revolts, gaining a large following.
- October 8: Grebel and Blaurock are arrested in Grüningen and transferred to Zurich.
- October 30: Felix Manz is arrested again in Zurich.
- November 6–8: The Third Baptismal Disputation takes place at the Grossmünster.
- November 18: Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock are sentenced to an indefinite term in the New Tower on a diet of bread and water.