# Henry Nicholis > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Henry_Nicholis > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Henry_Nicholis.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Nicholis > Source revision: 1291959028 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|16th-century German mystic}} {{About|the 16th century mystic|the American businessman|Henry Nicholas}} thumb|Hendrik Niclaes '''Hendrik Nicholis''' (or '''Hendrik Niclaes''', '''Henry Nichlaes,''' '''Heinrich Niclaes'''; c. 1501 – c. 1580) was a [German mystic](/source/German_mystic) and founder of the proto-[deist](/source/deist){{Cite web | title=Lipsius, Justus (Joest Lips; 1547–1606) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com | url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lipsius-justus-joest-lips-1547-1606 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206203709/https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lipsius-justus-joest-lips-1547-1606 | access-date=2025-05-24 | archive-date=2023-02-06}} [sect](/source/sect) "[Familia Caritatis](/source/Familia_Caritatis)" (a.k.a. "Family of Love","''Familia Caritatis''" or "''Hus der Lieften''"). ==Life== Nicholis was born in 1501 or 1502 at [Münster](/source/M%C3%BCnster), where he was married and was a prosperous merchant.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Nicholas, Henry|first=Albert Frederick |last=Pollard|author-link=Albert Pollard|volume=19|page=656}} As a boy he was subject to visions, and at the age of twenty-seven charges of [heresy](/source/heresy) led to his imprisonment. About 1530 he moved with his family to [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam), where he was imprisoned on a charge of complicity in the [Münster Rebellion](/source/M%C3%BCnster_Rebellion) of 1534–1535. About 1539 he experienced a call to found his "Family of Love". In 1540 he moved to [Emden](/source/Emden), where he prospered in business for twenty years, though he traveled to the Netherlands, England and elsewhere with commercial and missionary objectives. The date of his sojourn in England has been placed as early as 1552 and as late as 1569. His activities in England contributed to the [Puritan](/source/Puritan) controversies that formed the backdrop of [Queen Elizabeth I](/source/Queen_Elizabeth_I)'s reign. Nicholis hoped that his "Family of Love" could promote wider religious reformation in Europe. He worked through powerful friends to bring about change: [Christopher Plantin](/source/Christopher_Plantin), Abraham Ortel who called himself [Ortelius](/source/Ortelius), and the genre painter and political cartoonist Pieter [Brueghel the Elder](/source/Brueghel_the_Elder).{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} His doctrines seem to have been derived largely from the Dutch [Anabaptist](/source/Anabaptist) [David Joris](/source/David_Joris). The date of his death is unknown; in 1579 he was living at [Cologne](/source/Cologne), and it is likely that he died there a year or two later. ==Evolution of the doctrine== Nicholis's doctrines have mainly to be inferred from the accounts of hostile writers. The outward trappings of his system were merely Anabaptist; but he anticipated a good many later speculations, and his followers were accused of asserting that all things were ruled by nature and not directly by God, of denying the dogma of the [Trinity](/source/Trinity), and repudiating [infant baptism](/source/infant_baptism). They held that no man should be put to death for his opinions, and apparently, like the later [Quakers](/source/Quakers), they objected to the carrying of arms and to anything like an [oath](/source/oath); and they were quite impartial in their repudiation of all other churches and sects, including [Brownists](/source/Brownists) and [Barrowists](/source/Henry_Barrowe). Nicholis's principal disciple in England was [Christopher Vitell](/source/Christopher_Vitell), and towards 1579 the progress of the sect especially in the eastern counties of England provoked literary attacks, proclamations and parliamentary [bills](/source/bill_(law)). But Nicholis's followers escaped the gallows and the stake, through their combination of wisdom and apparent harmlessness. They would only discuss their doctrines with sympathizers; they showed every respect for authority, and considered outward conformity a duty. This quietist attitude, while it saved them from molestation, hampered propaganda; and though the Family existed until the middle of the 17th century, it was then swallowed up by the Quakers, [Baptists](/source/Baptists) and [Unitarians](/source/Unitarianism), all of which denominations may have derived some of their ideas through the Family from the Anabaptists. ==Works== Most of his writings come from his time at Emden. His primary work was ''Den Spegel der Gherechticheit dorch den Geist der Liefden unde den vergodeden Menscit I-IN. uth de hernmelisc tie Warheit betuget''. It appeared in an English form—with Nicholis's revisions—as ''An introduction to the holy Understanding of the Glasse of Righteousness'' (c.1575; reprinted in 1649). The list of Nicholis's works occupies nearly six columns in the ''[Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography)''.See also [Ernest Belfort Bax](/source/Ernest_Belfort_Bax), ''Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists'', pp. 327–380 (1903); and [John Strype](/source/John_Strype)'s ''Works, General Index''. Nicholis signed his works with his initials, "H.N.", which coincidentally also stood for ''Homo Novus'', "new man", which became a sort of call sign for the movement. == See also == * [Justus Velsius](/source/Justus_Velsius) == References == {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N53801.html Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online: Niclaes, Hendrik (1502-1580)] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholis, Henry}} Category:1500s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1580s deaths Category:Year of death uncertain Category:16th-century Christian mystics Category:Christian radicals Category:Protestant mystics Category:German deists Category:16th-century German writers Category:16th-century German male writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Henry Nicholis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Nicholis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Nicholis?action=history)). 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