Introduction
In the first decade of the seventeenth century, a grassroots mystical Mennonite movement in and around Amsterdam called out rich merchants by name and advised them to make their wealth common for all in the church to enjoy. Drawing on the words of Jesus, Mennonites a notch or two down the social ladder reminded prosperous co-religionists that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for them, as rich men, to enter into heaven (Matthew 19:24). While these Mennonite merchants did not immediately liquidate their assets and divide up the money among fellow congregants, it is worth noting that the two named in Amsterdam – both businessmen well-connected in and beyond Mennonite networks – did in fact engage in significant charitable acts some years later.
In 1610, Jan Munter purchased a defunct biscuit bakery complete with workers’ quarters and allowed a community of Anabaptist-leaning Separatist refugees from England to live, worship and set up a...