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 CHAPTER II

THE YEARS OF PREPARATION

1481-1523 REAT obscurity envelops the early life of Hübmaier. Certain record remains of but one fact relating to his origin: he was born in Friedburg, an ancient town on the Ach, some five miles east of the city of Augsburg. He sometimes called himself, and was called by others, an Augsburger. More frequently he was known in his earlier years as Friedburger or Pacimontanus; later he is usually called by his surname of Hübmaier. The year of his birth can only be conjectured; it was probably 1480 or 1481.

Of his family we know absolutely nothing. It was evidently of peasant origin, as is witnessed by its meaning, "the farmer on the hill." From the 24