Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (1700-1760)

German religious leader and founder of the Protestant sect known as the Moravian Brethren. In 1722, he left the Saxon state Church to establish the colony of Herrnhut (‘the Lord's Protection’) as a refuge for the persecuted Czech Brethren.

In common with the earlier movement in the Lutheran church known as Pietism, Zinzendorf's Herrnhut colony placed spiritual feeling before religious dogma and ritual. His zealous search for converts brought him into conflict with the authorities, and he was banished from Saxony in 1736. He then travelled extensively in Europe and America spreading the message of the Moravian Church and founding communities.