Flemish Anabaptists and Witch Hunts

Political leaders have long used the term "witch hunt"--and there is an historical connection to Mennonites.
Anabaptists and so-called “witches” were arrested and tried for related reasons in the Low Countries in the 1500s: namely, as a means to divert God’s wrath.
The late-Medievals feared that heresy—in this case ana-baptism and the challenge to other sacraments—invited the wrath of God, and was an instrument for the devil’s own hellish apocalyptic assault.
The assumption: the devil's tactics to destroy Christendom included the use of both heretics and sorcerers. Gary Waite writes convincingly that both were seen as “polluting” the community and thus both had to be "excised."

"This fear of pollution, or scandalizing God or the saints, also explains why small numbers of peaceable Mennonites were so harshly treated during the second half of the sixteenth century. Plagues, fires, and economic and social crises were often blamed on the presence of even a small group of individuals believed to be incurring God’s wrath by their very existence within the community." (Note 1)

In Bruges in the 1560s, for example, Friar Cornelis Adriaensz who interrogated many Flemish Anabaptists, accused Herman Vlekwijk of being bewitched (3x), bedeviled (2x), devilish (7x), a devil’s martyr, a devil’s brood, devil possessed, diabolical, hellish (7x), accursed (15x)—not to mention many other things, like being a “great, stupid, awkward ass”! Cornelis warns that whoever drinks “from the venomous breasts of Erasmus” (note 2) to deny young children a church-sanctioned baptism, denies them a protective defense from the devil’s assaults, for in baptism “the devil is exercised by the priest" (note 3).

His use of language was particular vulgar, and could match that of some in the political sphere today.

Inquisitor Cornelis demonstrated a fearful fascination with women and with “that” which “your filthy, sinful wives do with you,” “your filthy, unchaste, carnal wives” (Sorry, it's all in the Martyrs Mirror !). He imagines that Anabaptist men have “maidens” and their “women in common … like dogs,” and on this basis “gain such a great number of adherents” in Bruges. It is at this point in the interrogation of Herman Vlekwijk that Brother Cornelis moves from interrogation to torture: “Bah, you are filthy, carnal, unchaste, voluptuous rogues, that you thus use the women in common, like dogs” (which he repeats), and then says: “Bah, if I cannot prevail upon you with kindness, I must try whether I can do it with severity" (note 4).

In particular, enmity directed at the church’s highest sacraments was deemed to be nothing short of demonic. Anabaptists openly desecrated Bruges’s most treasured and celebrated relic since the high medieval ages. “The Precious Blood of Jesus,” a cloth with the blood of Christ purportedly collected by Joseph of Arimathea was brought to the city after the sacking of Constantinople in the Second Crusade (see note 5; pic 2).

The cloth gave the Bruges basilica its name and glory, and the city God’s favour and protection--as was widely understood in the sixteenth century, just as Bruges's fortunes and shipping access to the sea were beginning to dry-up.

Anabaptist Jacob de Roore (or "Candle Maker"; pic 3) was accused by his Franciscan inquisitor in Bruges with the following (among other things): “Your breaking of bread, and distribution of the cup is the devil’s supper for you … [you] do not bless your cup, nor do you consecrate your bit of bread, but it is wine and bread, and remains wine and bread” (note 6).

“You Anabaptists neither believe nor observe anything of them [i.e., the Holy Councils], except it be very plainly stated in the holy Scriptures. … I could very well show you this from the ancient fathers, but you Anabaptists will rely most firmly on the holy Scriptures alone” (note 7).

In his rage and frustration with the responses by de Roore, the inquisitor declared that he was true victim of torture (witch hunt?):

“You would drive an hundred thousand doctors of divinity mad and crazy”; “see wherewith we are now tormented and vexed”; “I could tear my cap with anger”! (Note 8)

De Roore wrote his congregation from prison: “it will please you to know that I was with the scholars four times, and they would have liked to draw me from my faith. … Three times I was with the provincials of the Augustinians … and once with the preacher of the Gray Brothers [Franciscan], named Brother Cornelis” (note 9; see pic 3).

No doubt Friar Cornelis and other interrogators did their work with pious intention based especially upon their end-time expectations and fear of God's wrath.

And 450 years later ... we still talk about witch hunts, and sometimes Christians (on both sides) anxiously fear the wrath of God if something is not done or eradicated soon.

--Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: See Gary Waite, Eradicating the Devil’s Minions. Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007), 126f.; also 200 and 197. https://books.google.ca/books?id=Y0XbgWXKYAEC&lpg=PP1&dq=Eradicating%20the%20Devil%E2%80%99s%20Minions.%20Anabaptists%20and%20Witches%20in%20Reformation%20Europe.%20Toronto%3A%20University%20of%20Toronto%20Press%2C%202007.&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Note 2: Thieleman Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror: The Story of Fifteen Centuries of Martyrdom (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2001), 789, 795; 793. https://archive.org/details/TheBloodyTheaterOrMartyrsMirrorOfTheDefenselessChristians/page/n783.

Note 3: Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 788.

Note 4: Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 796, 797; cf. also 779f.

Note 5: "The Procession of the Holy Blood," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procession_of_the_Holy_Blood; also "The Basilica of the Holy Blood," https://visit-bruges.be/see/churches/basilica-holy-blood.

Note 6: Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 791. With reference to 1 Corinthians 10:21 (“You cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons”), Menno’s 1539 “Foundation of Christian Doctrine” accused the Roman Church of the same, because it “admits all” (including the “avaricious, the proud, the ostentatious …”) and is celebrated with offensive “pomp and splendor” by ministers “who really seek nothing but worldly honor, ease and the belly” (Complete Writings of Menno Simons, edited by J. C. Wenger [Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1984], 142 [also here: https://archive.org/details/completeworksofm00menn/page/n8]; cf. also de Roore in van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 783). With respect to Menno, in all points of doctrine the Flemish Mennonites were consistent with his “Foundation.”

Note 7: Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 789. See also A. L. E. Verheyden, Anabaptism in Flanders, 1530–1650 (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1961), 126, n. 32, https://archive.org/details/anabaptisminflan0000verh.

Note 8: Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror, 795, 789, 797, 794.

Note 9: Translated in 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; 319.

Comments

What is the Church to Say? Letter 1 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accuarte and carefully considered. ~ANF American Mennonite leaders who supported Trump will be responding to the election results in the near future. Sometimes a template or sample conference address helps to formulate one’s own text. To that end I offer the following. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mennonites in Germany sent official greetings by telegram: “The Conference of the East and West Prussian Mennonites meeting today at Tiegenhagen in the Free City of Danzig are deeply grateful for the tremendous uprising ( Erhebung ) that God has given our people ( Volk ) through the vigor and action of [unclear], and promise our cooperation in the construction of our Fatherland, true to the Gospel motto of [our founder Menno Simons], ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.’” ( Note 1 ) Hitler responded in a letter...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 4 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accurate and carefully considered. ~ANF Preparing for your next AGM: Mennonite Congregations and Deportations Many U.S. Mennonite pastors voted for Donald Trump, whose signature promise was an immediate start to “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Confirmed this week, President Trump will declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to carry this out. The timing is ideal; in January many Mennonite congregations have their Annual General Meeting (AGM) with opportunity to review and update the bylaws of their constitution. Need help? We have related examples from our tradition, which I offer as a template, together with a few red flags. First, your congregational by-laws. It is unlikely you have undocumented immigrants in your congregation, but you should flag this. Model: Gustav Reimer, a deacon and notary public from the ...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 2 of 4 to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accurate and carefully considered. ~ANF In a few short months the American government will start to fulfill its campaign promises to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. The responsible cabinet members have already been appointed. By early Spring 2025, Mennonite pastors/leaders who supported Trump will need to speak to and address the matter in their congregations. It will be difficult to find words. How might they prepare? Sometimes a template from the past is helpful. To that end, I offer my summary of a text by retired Mennonite pastor and conference leader Gustav Kraemer. (There is a nice entry on him in the Mennonite Encyclopedia, GAMEO ). My summary is faithful to the German original, 1938. With only a few minor changes, it could be useful for the coming year. Adaptations are mostly in square brackets, with the key at the bottom of the post. ...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 3 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accurate and carefully considered. ~ANF Mennonite endorsement Trump the man No one denies the moral flaws of Donald Trump, least of all Trump himself. In these next months Mennonite pastors who supported Trump will have many opportunities to restate to their congregation and their children why someone like Trump won their support. It may be obvious, but the words can be difficult to find. To help, I offer examples from Mennonite history with statements from one our strongest leaders of the past century, Prof. Benjamin H. Unruh (see the nice Mennonite Encyclopedia article on him, GAMEO ). I have substituted only a few words, indicated by square brackets to help with the adaptation. The [MAGA] movement is like the early Anabaptist movement! In the change of government in 1933, Unruh saw in the [MAGA] movement “things breaking forth which our forefathe...

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Mennonite Murders, Infanticide, Rapes and more

To outsiders, the Mennonite reality in South Russia appeared almost utopian—with their “mild and peaceful ethos.” While it is easy to find examples of all the "holy virtues" of the Mennonite community, only when we are honest about both good deeds and misdemeanors does the Russian Mennonite tradition have something authentic to offer—or not. Rudnerweide was one of a few Molotschna villages with a Mennonite brewery and tavern , which in turn brought with it life-style lapses that would burden the local elder. For example, on January 21, 1835, the Rudnerweide Village Office reported that Johann Cornies’s sheep farm manager Heinrich Reimer, as well as Peter Friesen and an employed Russian shepherd, came into the village “under the influence of brandy,” and: "…at the tavern kept by Aron Wiens, they ordered half a quart of brandy and shouted loudly as they drank, banged their glasses on the table. The tavern keeper objected asking them to settle down, but they refused and...

The Flight to Moscow 1929

In 1926, my grandfather’s sister Justina Fast (b. 1896) and her husband Peter Görzen moved from Krassikow, Neu Samara (Soviet Union) to village no. 5 Dejewka, Orenburg. “We thought we would live our lives here with our children secure in the hands of God. But the times were becoming turbulent,” Justina recalled. In May 1929 they travelled back to Krassikow for Pentecost to visit with her mother, brothers and their families. But when they returned to their home, she writes, “… a large quota of grain was demanded of us. But we had nothing, and the harvest was not yet in. Then we heard that many were planning to move to Canada, including my three siblings with my mother, and my husband's three sisters too. My husband decided to go to Moscow first to see if it was possible and what was required for emigration. We made the decision to leave when the harvest was complete. At that time so many people were leaving [for Moscow], and early in September we sold everything we had. Only the b...

Simple Refugee Wedding: My grandparents (1931)

My father was born less than a year after these 1931 wedding photos. Jacob Fast and Helen Janzen had been in Paraguay less than 8 months—see the MCC telegram—and tragedy had already struck both refugees families. Jacob’s first wife and a daughter became victims of the epidemic that ravaged the new colony of Fernheim in those first months. He was now a widower at age 39—with an infant and other children without a mother. Helene was single and 29 years old. Her mother too had died from the same epidemic; her father was partially crippled. They had come from southern Ukrainian community of Spat, Crimea; Fast was from Ural Mountains area in Russia where South Russian Mennonites had created a “daughter colony” a generation earlier. Each had siblings who fled to Moscow in 1929 with them and who were accepted by Canada in 1930. My grandparents however were rejected—she was a single woman with frail parents; he was a man with an ill child. Perhaps in contexts like these the falli...

What does it cost to settle a Refugee? Basic without Medical Care (1930)

In January 1930, the Mennonite Central Committee was scrambling to get 3,885 Mennonites out of Germany and settled somewhere fast. These refugees had fled via Moscow in December 1929, and Germany was willing only to serve as first transit stop ( note 1 ). Canada was very reluctant to take any German-speaking Mennonites—the Great Depression had begun and a negative memory of war resistance still lingered. In the end Canada took 1,344 Mennonites and the USA took none born in Russia. Paraguay was the next best option ( note 2 ). The German government preferred Brazil, but Brazil would not guarantee freedom from military service, which was a problem for American Mennonite financiers. There were already some conservative "cousins" from Manitoba in Paraguay who had negotiated with the government and learned through trial and error how to survive in the "Green Hell" of the Paraguayan Chaco. MCC with the assistance of a German aid organization purchased and distribute...

Russian and Prussian Mennonite Participants in “Racial-Science,” 1930

I n December 1929, some 3,885 Soviet Mennonites plus 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists and seven Adventists were assisted by Germany to flee the Soviet Union. They entered German transit camps before resettlement in Canada, Brazil and Paraguay ( note 1 ) In the camps Russian Mennonites participated in a racial-biological study to measure their hereditary characteristics and “racial” composition and “blood purity” in comparison to Danzig-West Prussian, genetic cousins. In Germany in the last century, anthropological and medical research was horribly misused for the pseudo-scientific work referred to as “racial studies” (Rassenkunde). The discipline pre-dated Nazi Germany to describe apparent human differences and ultimately “to justify political, social and cultural inequality” ( note 2 ). But by 1935 a program of “racial hygiene” and eugenics was implemented with an “understanding that purity of the German Blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the ...

Creating a Spiritual Tradition: Nine Core Texts

Just before Mennonite immigration to Russia, Prussian leaders were feverishly translating the tradition from Dutch to German. In addition to the translations, a few other key pieces were also written and together these texts shaped the Russian Mennonite tradition. 1. In 1765 certain core writings of Menno Simons were selected, edited for brevity and focus, and translated into a first German edition by Johannes Deknatel ( note 1 ). 2. Hymnals: In 1780, Danzig Flemish Elder Hans van Steen with supporting ministers published (translated): A Spiritual Hymnal for General Edification, in which, besides David’s Psalms, a collection of specially selected old and new songs can be found . The Flemish had “always” worshiped in Dutch and as late as 1752 they had ordered 3,000 Dutch hymnals from Amsterdam. Two-thirds of the hymns in the Danzig hymnal were adopted from the Lutheran and Reformed tradition This was the second unique Mennonite hymnal in “the language of the land”; in 1767 Elbing an...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog