Reformation History between Accident, Ambition, and Anguish: Barthold Nicolaus Krohn (1722–1795) and his Project for a General History of Anabaptism

On March 17, 1751, in the Free and Imperial City of Hamburg eleven young Mennonites converted to the Lutheran faith. The ceremony took place in the church of St. Petri. All the neophytes belonged to the Goverts, a prominent and influential Mennonite family who lived in the neighboring town of Altona.1 This was a spectacular success for orthodox Lutheranism in a time and a city where inter-confessional conflicts were still common.2 One of the persons involved in converting the Goverts family was Barthold Nicolaus Krohn (1722– 1795).3 Krohn hailed from Hamburg where his father worked as an imperial