Bruges - Flemish Mennonite/ Anabaptist Reformation

The Russian Mennonite beginnings stretch back to the Reformation in the sixteenth century in the Low Countries, including Flanders and the beautiful and historic city of Bruges.

Many regularly appearing Russian Mennonites names are represented in the Anabaptist group in Bruges, for example, and can also be used as a window onto the larger story.

In a 1576 report on Bruges, Monk Alfonso of St. Emilian wrote to Philip II--the "most Catholic" of Emperors--that the “city is completely infected by said heretical pest more than any other city of the region. … it is a refuge and a storehouse of all heretics and miscreants. Of a thousand homes in that city, not one is pure" (note 1).

Most famously, a "Group of 12" Anabaptists were martyred in Bruges in 1561 (note 2; pic). A hymn was written to remember these “twelve friends killed in Bruges”; the entire story is sung in twelve verses and each martyr is individually named (note 3; pic 3). The hymn entitled “Grace and Peace must be Godly” is found in a Flemish Mennonite hymnal first published in the 16th century—predating the Martyrs Mirror. It was reprinted frequently and in use as late as 1750. The unnamed hymn writer offers the verses as an “example” to inspire faithfulness to God’s Word and joy in suffering

The first Anabaptist executions in Bruges occurred as early as 1538, and these continued with sporadic intensity for the next thirty-five years until all had fled, recanted or were killed.

Almost all of the Bruges Anabaptists had already fled from harsher repression in the cities of Antwerp and Ghent or the south Flemish Kortrijk region (note 4). In Bruges they could be hired for their labour and skills, and also connect discreetly with like-minded believers eager to read the Bible and explore together what obedience of faith might require of them.

Amongst those executed in Bruges (note 5) beyond the twelve were a thirty-seven year old candlemaker and weaver, Jacob de Roore (note 6); two tailors and businessmen Herman Vlekwijk and Mattheus Keuse; a linen weaver; two silk weavers including Maillaert de Grave noted above, who later recanted but was still executed; a sheep shearer and hatter; a basket maker; a miller; a rope maker Jan Diericxsone, who was “graciously” beheaded and had likely recanted; a wood-cutter and local Bruges citizen; a shepherd; an author of various anti-Catholic writings; an actor and rhetorician, Jan Verveste, or Jan Van der Veste (note 7).

One of the Anabaptist weavers put to death in Bruges, Jacob de Swarte, had eighteen family members executed in Flanders between 1558 and 1567.

The first Anabaptists martyred in Bruges were exclusively women—seven were executed over an eleven day period in August 1538. Josyne Schricx was burnt alive without being first strangulated, which was customary for women (considered more merciful). Marguerite Inghels and Magdalena de Vos recanted but were then buried alive, which was considered to be the worst form of execution. Livine Verwee perished giving birth in prison.

In 1568, fourteen Anabaptists were meeting in Bruges and found by police; of the five who did not recant, four were women: Lauwereinse Huutgheers, Maycken’s Heeren; Jacquemijne de Wilde, Cathalijne Loury.

Some younger Anabaptists were tricked with “cunning” interrogations and recanted, like the eighteen-year-old Callekin, daughter of preacher Pauwels Vermaete. Hans, the fifteen-year-old son of Jan Verveste, escaped the Bruges prison with his accomplice Cornelis Jansins after they cut through the iron bars, made a rope from bed-sheets and lowered themselves to the street below. Hans’ eighteen year-old brother Lievin, a textile maker, was released.

One source reported that between the end of October and the beginning of November 1572, 140 heretics were executed in Bruges (note 8; see pic 1). The last Mennonite martyr of Bruges was a twenty-one-year-old hatter, Adriaen de Hoedemaker, who died in 1573.

While the Anabaptist beginnings in Bruges were tragically short-lived, the Bruges martyrology and confessions have not only contributed to a cherished Anabaptist heritage, but helped to establish the principle of religious tolerance in places like The Netherlands (note 9).

This longer narrative description of the Anabaptist community in Bruges is one starting point for understanding the Mennonites of Prussia and Russia. The movement in Flanders was not led by the educated elite or magisterium, whether Prince or Pope, nor was it contingent on one elder. Rather, it was lay-led by inventive artisans who were discovering a conscious Christian identity for the first time and who dared push back the constraints of inherited orthodoxy.

-Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

--Notes--

Note 1: Cited in A. L. E. Verheyden, Anabaptism in Flanders (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1961), 80, https://archive.org/details/anabaptisminflan0000verh. See also A. C. de Schrevel, Histoire Séminaire de Bruges, vol. 1 (Bruges: de Planke, 1895), 691f., https://books.google.ca/books?id=sms0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA691#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Note 2: Thieleman J. Van Braght, The Martyrs’ Mirror: The Story of Fifteen Centuries of Martyrdom (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2001), 655f. https://archive.org/details/TheBloodyTheaterOrMartyrsMirrorOfTheDefenselessChristians/page/n653.

Note 3: Philipp Wackernagel, Lieder der niederländischen Reformierten aus der Zeit der Verfolgung im 16. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt, 1867), 130, https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10591883_00156.html.

Note 4: Cf. Verheyden, Anabaptism in Flanders, 51f.

Note 5: Names from A. L. E. Verheyden, "Het Brugse Martyrologium (1527–1573)," (Brussel: Wilco, 1944), http://www.theologienet.nl/documenten/Verheyden%20Brugse%20Martyrologium.pdf. See also: Ludo Vandamme, “Doopsgezinden in Brugge, 1555–1575,” Doopsgezinde Bijdragen, nieuwe reeks, no. 24 (1998) 9–24, http://www.dhkonline.nl/publicaties/db_nr/nr_24_1998/009a_aa_024-24_1998/.

Note 6: Cf. Martha J. Reimer-Blok, “The Theological Identity of Flemish Anabaptists: A Study of the Letters of Jacob de Roore,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 62, no. 3 (July 1988) 318–331.

Note 7: The children of Jan Verweste (Van der Veste) were later freed. Only twenty-four years later (1582) an Arendt Veste was amongst the first Flemish Anabaptists to appear in the Danzig region, where he had signed a petition by Werder Mennonites to the Council of the City of Danzig (G. Reimer, “Fast [Feste, Faast, Vast] family,” Mennonite Encyclopedia/ GAMEO: https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fast_(Feste,_Faast,_Vast)_family).

Note 8: Verheyden, "Het Brugse Martyrologium (1527–1573)," 61.

Note 9: Cf. Gary Waite, “A Reappraisal of the Contribution of Anabaptists to the Religious Culture and Intellectual Climate of the Dutch Republic,” in Religious Minorities and Cultural Diversity in the Dutch Republic, edited by August den Hollander, et al., 6–28 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2019), 7, 27.

Pic 1: Burning of Anton Ijsbaerts, Flanders 1573; from the Martyrs Mirror.

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