Heinrich Krechting
Heinrich Krechting (c. 1501 – 28 June 1580) was a leader of the radical Anabaptist movement in Münster.
Krechting was the son of the town clerk and organist Engelbert Krechting. He attended grammar school and married Elsle Oedefelt in 1526, daughter of a Schöppingen draper. They had four children. In 1531 he became mayor in Schöppingen. A year later he became a judge and
In fall 1533
As the cathedral fell through treachery after 16 months on 25 June 1535, Krechting barricaded himself with a few hundred survivors on the principal market in a
Krechting fled first to Lingen and tried with the toleration of Count Anton of Oldenburg to rally the Anabaptists again. After the execution of Jan van Batenburg in February 1538, he was leader of the radical Anabaptists. His efforts to choose a new king and win back Münster during the Oldenburg feud in 1538 failed due to the weakness of his movement.
When Count Anton of Oldenburg removed the Anabaptists from his country in 1538, Krechting was able to remain and find shelter in Gödens. Nothing more is known about his work as an Anabaptist after that time. In 1580, he died a respected man. His grandson Knechting and his great-grandson Hermann Wachmann were mayors of Bremen.