Background
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 Schöppinger draper.
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 Schöppinger draper.
They had four children. In 1531 he became mayor in Schöppingen. A year later he became a judge and Gograf (Presiding Judge) in the Gogericht (assembly) of greater Munster.
In the fall of 1533 he joined January van Leiden, who possibly baptized him in January 1534.
Leiden appointed Heinrich as his secretary and later as "Chancellor of the Kingdom" - his personal representative. Heinrich Krechting was responsible for organizing the defenders against the siege.
As the cathedral fell through treachery after 16 months on 25 June 1535, Heinrich Krechting barricaded himself with a few hundred survivors on the principal market in a wagon fort. They fought fiercely, and it was decided to give the fighters their lives and safe passage if they laid down their arms.
Krechting and 24 of his comrades were allowed to leave town with a bishop"s permit and 10 gold florins.
Nothing more is known about his work as an Anabaptist after that time. In 1580, he died a respected manitoba