CHAPTER III.
The Schwenkfelder Hymn-Writers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.
It will be the design of this chapter to provide an account of the Schwenkfelder hymn-writers whose activity had terminated before the emigration of the sect to America. Limitation in the matter of space necessitates the exclusion of much interesting material which had been prepared for this part of our narrative. Consequently we shall confine the account to a chronological list of these writers and a series of brief biographical sketches of the more important members of the group. Those writers who were among the immigrants will be treated in our account of the American period in subsequent chapters.
The Schwenkfelder hymn-writers of the European period are:
| Valentin Crautwald, | 1465 (?) | —1545 | |
| Georg Berkenmeyer, | (?) | —1545 ca. | |
| Johann Schweintzer, | (?) | —1560 ca. | |
| Adam Reissner, | 1496 | —1575 (?) | |
| Valentin Triller, | (?) | —1580 ca. | |
| Johann Raiimmd Weckher | wrote (circa) | 1540 | —1570 |
| Sebastian Franck, | 1500 ca. | —1545 | |
| Alexander Berner, | wrote | 1550 ca. | |
| Bernhard Herxheimer, | wrote (circa) | 1555 ff. | |
| Alexander Heldt, | wrote | 1565 ff | |
| Sigmund Bosch, | wrote | 1570 ca. | |
| Daniel Sudermann, | 1550 | —1631 | |
| George Frell, | wrote (circa) | 1575 ff. | |
| Claus Stuntz, | wrote | 1580 ca. | |
| Antonius Oelsner, | wrote (circa) | 1590 ff. | |
| Anna Hoyer, | 1584 | —1656 | |
| George Heydrich, | ( ? ) | —1657 ca. | |
| Martin John, Jr., | 1624 | —1707 |
Valentin Crautwald is a name not unfamiliar to stu-
