George Bauman, in the Year 1529

About this time a brother named George Bauman was arrested at Banschlet, in Wurtemburg, for the faith and the Word of God. The nobleman whose subject he was kept him in prison for a time, and also had him dreadfully racked and tortured, and did so much to him by imprisonment, torture and pain, and also by various promises, that they persuaded him and won his consent to follow them. They then demanded that he recant in church, and confess that he had turned away [from his faith], which he did once or twice; he went to church, and carried out what they had forced his consent to. In the meantime he came to himself, and considered the honor of God and His holy name, and also where he was going.

So when he came to church the third time to recant, he said to the priest and the bystanders: "You have condemned me, and through pain and fear prevailed on me to follow you; but now I renounce and revoke it all, and I am sorry that I did it." So he began, and confessed anew that this was the divine truth and the true faith; indeed, the way to life in Christ, and that, on the other hand, the idolatrous life and ways of the world are a delusion and contrary to God. In this faith and confession of his he intended to continue and persevere to the end. Why should the priests and servants wait any longer? So they quickly arrested him again, and he was soon sentenced to death. When he was led out to the place of execution, he sang joyfully on the way. It was very muddy in the village, but he walked briskly all the same; so that his shoes stuck fast in the mud. But he took no notice of it, left them there, hurried on to the place of execution, and sang for joy that God had again given him such courage and heart. So he was beheaded with the sword. The nobleman who caused his execution, and nearly all who had sat in judgment and condemned him, died almost every one of them a miserable death, and came to a dreadful end, so that their happy days in this world ended in sorrow.