Hoyer, Anna

Hoyer, Anna a German enthusiast, was born at Goldenbüttel, near Eiderstadt (Schleswig), in 1584. Her maiden name was OWEN. In 1599 she married a nobleman called Hoyer, and when he died she retired to one of her estates, where she devoted herself to belles-lettres and poetry. Becoming acquainted with an alchemist named Teting, who attended her during a sickness, she was soon fascinated by the views of the mystic, whom she took into her house, and considered as a prophet. She afterwards joined the Anabaptists, and thought herself inspired. Her ardor in making proselytes caused her to lose nearly her whole fortune, and, leaving her country, she went to Sweden, where she found a protector in queen Eleonora Maria, who presented her with an estate on which she resided until her death in 1656. Her views, derived from Paracletus, David Joris, Schwenckfeld, Weigel, and other mystics, are expressed in indifferent verses in her Works (Amsterd. 1650). Some of her writings were directed against the Lutherans. See J. G. Feuclitking, Gynecaeum haeret. fanat. p. 356 sq.; Arnold, Kirchen-u. Ketzerhist. 3, 10, 14; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen. 25, 319.