The Face of Popular Religious Dissent in the Low Countries, 1520–1530

Alastair Duke

doi:10.1017/S0022046900060309

The Face of Popular Religious Dissent in the Low Countries, 1520–1530

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

Alastair Duke

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Alastair Duke: Affiliation:
Lecturer in History, University of Southampton

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Writing to Wolsey from Bergen op Zoom in 1527 the English ambassador described the Low Countries as being in grave peril from heresy, ‘for yf ther be tre men that speckes, the tweyn keppis Lutter ys openyon’: it was a pardonable exaggeration. Of Luther's immediate popularity in the Netherlands there can be no doubt. In taverns, private houses and on barges the religious issues of the day were hotly debated; from pulpits the new doctrines were championed or denounced, and in public places posters appeared pillorying the mendicants. The succession of placards forbidding the reading, sale or printing of Luther's writings and the increasingly severe penalties prescribed for attendance at conventicles, for harbouring apostate religious and, above all, for spreading heretical notions tell the same tale. Already by 1525 Luther had become a household name in the Netherlands and a new synonym for heretics ‘Luytrianen’ had entered common speech, displacing the older ‘Valdoysen ende Wijclevisten’.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 1975 , pp. 41 - 67

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900060309 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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^{page 41 note 1} Earlier versions of this paper were read to the Low Countries Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, the Medieval Seminar of Southampton University and the Sixteenth Century Local Ecclesiastical History Colloquium held at Reading in March 1974. I am indebted to the members of these seminars for their many useful comments and criticisms. Professor C. C. de Bruin and Drs. J. Trapman kindly gave assistance on a variety of matters. I should also like to acknowledge a grant from the Sir Ernest Cassel Educational Trust towards research in the Netherlands in 1972.

The terminal date has occasionally been transgressed to allow consideration of some non-Anabaptist heretics in the early 1530s.

List of abbreviations of the most frequently cited sources and secondary works:

C. D. = Corpus documentorurn inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis Neerlandicae. Verzameling van stukken betreffende de pauselijke en bisschoppelijke inquisitie in de Nederlanden, ed. Fredericq, P., i–v, Ghent—The Hague 1889–1902.Google Scholar

Redlich = Redlich, O. R., Jülich-Bergische Kirchenpolitik am Ausgang des Mittelalters vnd in der Reformationszeit, ii, Visitationsprotokolle und Berichte, erste Teil, Jülich 1533–1589, Bonn 1911.Google Scholar

De Hoop Scheffer = Scheffer, J. G. de Hoop, Geschiedenis der kerkhervorming in Nederland van haar ontstaan tot 1531, Amsterdam 1873.Google Scholar

R. A. =Rijksarchief. G. A. = Gemeentearchief. O. R. A. = Oud-rechterlijk archief. Useful surveys of the early Reformation in the Low Countries will be found in Knappert, L., Het ontstaan en de vestiging van het protestantisme in de Nederlanden, Utrecht 1924Google Scholar, ch. iv, v and Halkin, L. E., La réforme en Belgique sous Charles-Quint, Brussels 1957, 27–48.Google Scholar

^{page 41 note 2} The Letters of Sir John Hackett, 1526–1534, ed. Rogers, E. F., Morgantown 1971, 81.Google Scholar

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^{page 42 note 2} According to a tradition, recently shown to be erroneous, the Augustinians at Dordrecht were inciting the townspeople against indulgences as early as March 1518; see Meijer, A. de, , O. S. A., ‘Augustijnen in conflict met Dordtse magistraat?’ in Archief voor de geschiedenis van de katholieke kerk in Nederland, V (1963), 343–50.Google Scholar Apparently Willem van Alkmaar, identified by de Meijer as provincial of the Franciscan observants for Cologne, was an early admirer of Luther and made available his Dutch translation of Luther's De bonis operibus to the Leiden printer, Peter van Balen. See Visser, C. C. G., Luther's geschriften in de Nederlanden tot 1546, Assen 1969, 157Google Scholar, where he however persists in regarding Willem van Alkmaar as an Augustinian. Another prominent Franciscan with evangelical leanings was Joannes Pelt, who was warden of the Grey Friars in Amsterdam until his flight in 1524 to Bremen. He has been credited with the translation of the New Testament which appeared during 1523 in three parts.

^{page 42 note 3} Scheerder, J., ‘Het lutheranisme te Gent’, in Annales de la Société d'Histoire du Protestantisme Belge, 4 ème série, VI (1963), 305.Google Scholar

^{page 42 note 4} C. D., iv. 35–6, 136–41, 173–7; also Janssen, H. Q., Jacobus Praepositus, Luthers leerling en vriend, Amsterdam 1862, passim.Google Scholar

^{page 42 note 5} C.D., v. 360–2.

^{page 42 note 6} C.D., iv, 191–214. Another Augustinian Eremite, Jean de Vallière, was the first Protestant martyr in France, being burnt at Paris on 8 August 1523.

^{page 42 note 7} C.D., iv, 132–4.

^{page 43 note 1} C.D., iv. 382.

^{page 43 note 2} For other Augustinians suspected of heresy see C.D., iv. 335; 366; v. 8–9; 133; 168 and Pekelharing, K. R., Bijdragen voor de geschiedenis der hervorming in Zeeland, 1524–1572, Middelburg 1866, 7.Google Scholar

^{page 43 note 3} Kronenberg, M. E., Verboden boeken en opstandige drukkers in hervormingstijd, Amsterdam 1948, 30–1.Google Scholar According to a visitation conducted in Jülich in 1533 Herolt's Discipuli sermones was, after the Bible, the book most likely to be found in the priest's house.

^{page 43 note 4} Visser, op. cit., 13–5.

^{page 43 note 5} Visser, op. cit., ch. ii; see also list on 130–3.

^{page 43 note 6} Clebsch, W. A., ‘The Earliest Translations of Luther into English’, in Harvard Theological Review, LVI (1963), 75–86.CrossRef Google Scholar Two of these translations were printed at Antwerp.

^{page 43 note 7} Kronenberg, op. cit., 16.

^{page 43 note 8} De Hoop Scheffer, 405–20; C.D., v. 151.

^{page 43 note 9} Visser, op. cit., 9.

^{page 43 note 10} Kronenberg, op. cit., ch. vii.

^{page 43 note 11} C.D., iv. 110–13.

^{page 44 note 1} Sermons were preached against Luther every Sunday during 1521–22 at Bergen op Zoom; J. Kleyntjens S. J. en C. Slootmans, Hervorming te Bergen-op-Zoom. Hare ontwikkeling en vestiging in de 16e eeuw, Bergen op Zoom 1933, 1.

^{page 44 note 2} C.D., iv. 296–7.

^{page 44 note 3} C.D., iv. 501.

^{page 44 note 4} C.D., v. 3; see also C.D., v. 207. In 1527 a Dutch translation of Johann Eck's Enchiridion locorum communium adversos Lutheranos was ordered to be burnt at Amsterdam, probably because it indirectly helped to spread Luther's teaching; see De Hoop Scheffer, 438–9.

^{page 44 note 5} C.D., v. 188–9.

^{page 44 note 6} C.D., v. 211.

^{page 44 note 7} Petrus van Thabor attributed the appeal of Luther's teaching to ‘many educated people’ to his knack of clearly proving his case from scripture: C.D., iv. 246.

^{page 44 note 8} C.D., iv. 259–61; C. C. de Bruin, De Statenbijbel en zijn voorgangers, Leiden 1937, 195.

^{page 45 note 1} J. G. C. A. Briels, ‘Zuidnederlandse onderwijskrachten in Noord Nederland, 1570–1630’, in Archief voor de geschiedenis van de katholieke kerk in Nederland, xiv (1972), 91.

^{page 45 note 2} E.g., Haines, R. M., ‘“Wilde wittes and wilfulnes”: John Swetstock's attack on those “poyswunmongeres”, the Lollards’, in Studies in Church History, viii, ed. Cumings, G. J. and Baker, D., Cambridge 1972, 148–9.Google Scholar

^{page 45 note 3} Dagboek van gebeurtenissen opgetekend door Christiaan Munters, 1519–1545, ed. Grauwels, J., Assen 1972, 26.Google Scholar Anabaptists later emphasised the importance of being able to read and write, see Menno Simons's advice to parents, Vos, K., Menno Simons, 1496–1561: Zijn leven en werken en zijne reformatorische denkbeelden, Leiden 1914, 203Google Scholar and the testimony of some Anabaptist martyrs in van Braght, T. J., The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror, Scottdale 1951, 587, 760Google Scholar; for the reaction of hostile contemporaries to their ability to read, op. cit., 775.

^{page 45 note 4} For a survey of the situation in one diocese see Harsin, P., ‘Les premières manifestations de la réforme luthérienne dans le diocèse de Liège, 1520–1530’, in Académie royale de Belgique: Bulletin de la classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques, 5 ème série, XLVIII (1962), 273–94.Google Scholar

^{page 45 note 5} De Hoop Scheffer, 78–9 n. 5.

^{page 45 note 6} C.D., iv. 86.

^{page 46 note 1} C.D., iv. 136–9, 158.

^{page 46 note 2} C.D., iv. 246.

^{page 46 note 3} C.D., v. 133; the schout's house at Hoorn was attacked in 1527 by the relatives of a heretic in custody there: C.D., v.196.

^{page 46 note 4} C.D., v. 410–11.

^{page 46 note 5} C.D., v. 225, 232, 323.

^{page 46 note 6} E.g., Geryt die Cuper, who was expelled from a tavern in Gouda after speaking offensively of our Lord's passion: G. A. Gouda, O. R. A. 146, fol. 138^v–9.

^{page 46 note 7} C.D., iv. 373.

^{page 46 note 8} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 146, fol. 149^v. Gouda was little troubled by the Anabaptist agitation of 1534–5 and it emerged unscathed from the disturbances of 1566–7.

^{page 46 note 9} C.D., v. 172.

^{page 46 note 10} R. A. Noord-Holland, O.R.A. 4515, fol. 13–13c.

^{page 46 note 11} C.D., v. 170.

^{page 46 note 12} R. A. Noord-Holland, O.R.A. 4515, fol. 6^v–7.

^{page 47 note 1} C.D., iv. 161.

^{page 47 note 2} C.D., iv. 246.

^{page 47 note 3} C.D., iv. 392; Harsin, op. cit., 281–4.

^{page 47 note 4} C.D., v. 106, 142.

^{page 47 note 5} R.A. Noord-Holland, O.R.A. 4515, fol. 20^v–21.

^{page 47 note 6} E.g., C.D., iv. 382; C.D., v. 51, 55, 254–5.

^{page 47 note 7} C.D., iv. 85–6. Heer Dirck van Abcoude may have translated some of Luther's books into Dutch; see Visser, op. cit., 156–8.

^{page 47 note 8} De Hoop Scheffer, 575; Moreau, G., Histoire du protestantisme à Tournai jusqu'à la veille de la révolution des Pays-Bos, Paris 1962, 76–7.Google Scholar

^{page 47 note 9} C.D., v. 46.

^{page 48 note 1} C.D., v. 237–42.

^{page 48 note 2} C.D., v. 325–7.

^{page 48 note 3} Refereinen van Anna Bijns naar de nalatenschap van Mr. A. Bogaers, ed. W. L. van Helten, Rotterdam 1875, 1. xiv, 45–54. This ‘refereyn’ bears the date 21 November 1523. The poetry of Anna Bijns should be used circumspectly, for many of her allusions to the evil consequences of the Reformation refer to events in Germany, especially the Peasants' War, rather than to the situation in the Netherlands.

^{page 48 note 4} Ibid., 1. ix, p. 30 b. 11., 1–3, 12–14; c. 11. 1—13. This ‘refereyn’ is not dated, but it appears in a collection of her poetry published in 1528.

^{page 48 note 5} C.D., iv. 467.

^{page 49 note 1} C.D., iv. 106. On several occasions Anna Bijns speaks of women preachers, especially Refereinen, 1. xiv, xv, xxii, but there is no evidence of their activity, at least for the 1520s.

^{page 49 note 2} Moreau, op. cit., 76.

^{page 49 note 3} C.D., iv. 387; similar accusations were later levelled at the Anabaptists. For this aspect in France see Davis, N. Z., ‘The Rites of Violence: Religious Riot in Sixteenth Century France’, in Past and Present, LIX (1973), 57–8.Google Scholar

^{page 49 note 4} Rnappert, L., De opkomst van het protestantisme in eene noord-Nederlandsche stad, Leiden 1908, 119.Google Scholar

^{page 49 note 5} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 80^v. It is tempting to identify this ‘broeder Wouter’ with the Dominican apostate of that name who preached to evangelicals in Delft, but he fled in 1528 to Strassburg and this deposition apparently relates to events after c. 1530.

^{page 49 note 6} Redlich, 90–95.

^{page 49 note 7} Redlich, 520.

^{page 49 note 8} Redlich, 502.

^{page 49 note 9} De Bruin, op. cit., 87–9.

^{page 50 note 1} It would however be quite wrong to suppose that those who neglected these obligations were heretics, or even suspected of heresy. There were non-religious grounds for failing to comply with these regulations. For example, many of the sturdy beggars sentenced by the schepenbank at Gouda confessed to not having been to confession or communion for several years. Presumably these vagrants had slipped through the ecclesiastical net before the spread of Protestantism caused the courts to investigate such negligence more closely. Apparently, too, some hesitated to make their confession because they were too poorly dressed: though this was the excuse offered by a suspected Anabaptist at Amsterdam in 1555, it only makes sense if this was a fairly common practice.

^{page 50 note 2} Algemeen R. A., Brussels, Papiers d'État et de l'Audience, 1475 (i), 27 June 1527.

^{page 50 note 3} De Hoop Scheffer, 577–87.

^{page 50 note 4} Bezemer, W., ‘Geloofsvervolging te Rotterdam, 1534–1539’, in Archief voor Nederlandsch kerkgeschicdenis, VI (1897), 50–51.Google Scholar

^{page 50 note 5} For the controversy in the infant Reformed congregations at Tournai and Valenciennes occasioned by Calvin's strictures against those members who continued to conduct themselves outwardly as ‘papists’, and the debate in the Reformed congregation at Antwerp in the 1550s, see G. Moreau, op. cit., 90–1 and Jelsma, A. J., Adriaan van Haemstede en zijn martelaarsboek, The Hague 1970, 36–42.Google Scholar

^{page 50 note 6} The most important of the early evangelical writings are to be found in Geschriften uit den tijd der hervorming in de Nederlanden, ed. Pijper, S. Cramer en F., Bibliotheca Reformatoria Neerlandica, i, The Hague 1903.Google Scholar

^{page 51 note 1} For the relationship between the inquisition and the secular courts in the Habsburg Netherlands see C.D., v. 207, 255–9; also Poullet, E., ‘Histoire du droit pénal dans le duché de Brabant depuis l'avénement de Charles-Quint jusqu'à la réunion de la Belgique à la France, à la fin du XVIIIe siècle’, in Mémoires couronnés et mémoires des savants étrangers publiés par I'académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, XXXV (1870), 53–80Google Scholar and Maes, L. T., Vijf eeuwen stedelijk strafrecht. Bijdrage tot de rechts- en cultuurgeschiedenis der Nederlanden, Antwerp-The Hague 1947, 177–87.Google Scholar

^{page 51 note 2} De Hoop Scheffer, 538–9.

^{page 51 note 3} The records edited by Fredericq only reach as far as 31 December 1528. The promised sixth volume, which would have carried the work to 1531, unfortunately never appeared. In the Corpus documentorum are to be found excerpts from chronicles, letters, papal bulls, edicts, trial proceedings and extracts from the various exchequers relating to the pursuit of heretics. Impressive as this compilation is, it is not comprehensive; for example, it does not include any material from the record offices of Rotterdam and Gouda in Holland.

^{page 51 note 4} The most serious omission concerns the Loists whose activities in Antwerp alarmed Luther; see Frederichs, J., De secte der Loisten of Antwerpsche libertijnen 1525–1545: Eligius Pruystinck (Lay de Schaliedecker) en zijne aanhangers, Ghent-The Hague 1891.Google Scholar

^{page 51 note 5} C.D., i. 491; De Hoop Scheffer, 50–2.

^{page 51 note 6} E.g., Post, R. R., The Modern Devotion: confrontation with Reformation and Humanism, Leiden 1968, 585–88Google Scholar; C.D., iv. 246.

^{page 52 note 1} C.D., iv. 35–6, 87.

^{page 52 note 2} C.D., iv. 397.

^{page 52 note 3} See De Hoop Scheffer, 566; Moreau, op. cit., 76.

^{page 52 note 4} E.g., De Hoop Scheffer, 514, 575; C.D., v. 222, 225, 334; x. Bezemer, op. cit., 50; R. A. Utrecht, Bisschoppelijk archief, no. 537, unfoliated. Dr. C. Dekker generously drew my attention to this last reference: it concerns a certain Heer Andries Anna, who was accused of heresy by his colleagues in 1532.

^{page 52 note 5} Moreau, op. cit., 76.

^{page 52 note 6} C.D., v. 45, 52.

^{page 52 note 7} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 45^v. This imagery was employed also by English Protestants. Robert Barnes was accused at his trial in 1540 of likening Our Lady to a saffron bag, Remains of Myles Coverdale, Parker Society, Cambridge 1846, 347Google Scholar; 350, and Latimer, Hugh in his ‘Sermon of the Plough’ referred to Mary similarly, Sermons of Hugh Latimer, Parker Society, Cambridge 1844, 60.Google Scholar

^{page 52 note 8} C.D., iv. 372.

^{page 53 note 1} E.g., C.D., iv. 403; v, 227–8; Bezemer, op. cit., 47

^{page 53 note 2} C.D., iv. 385: ‘Is Onse Lieve Vrouwe soo heylich, hoe heylich mach dan wesen de esel, die den hutschpot all te same gedragen heeft?’

^{page 53 note 3} C.D., iv. 399.

^{page 53 note 4} C.D., iv. 356–7, 376, 393. The first instance of image-breaking in France occurred in Paris in June 1528.

^{page 53 note 5} Toussaert, J., Le sentiment religieux en Flandre à la fin du Moyen-Age, Paris 1963, 205–11.Google Scholar

^{page 53 note 6} C.D., v. 281.

^{page 53 note 7} De Hoop Scheffer, 514; Redlich, 203; for later instances of the expression, see Grosheide, G., Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der Anabaptisten in Amsterdam, Hilversum 1938, 166Google Scholar; Algemeen R. A., Brussels, Raad van Beroerten, 110, fol. 119; Kroniek eener kloosterzuster van het voormalig Bossche klooster ‘Marienburg’, ed. Alfen's-Hertogenbosch, H. van 1931, 72Google Scholar; Handvesten rakende de wederdoopers en de calvinisten der XVIde eeuw in de voormalige kastelnij van Kortrijk, ed. T. Stevens, Kortrijk n.d., 58–9.

^{page 53 note 8} For examples outside the Low Countries see Herford, C. E., Studies in the Literary Relations of England and Germany, London 1966(reprint), 42Google Scholar and Price, F. D., ‘Gloucester Diocese under Bishop Hooper, 1551–3’, in Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, LX (1938), 140.Google Scholar For these references I am indebted to Professor W. A. Coupe and Miss I. Luxton.

^{page 53 note 9} Amongst the abusive descriptions current in the 1520s were ‘den witten God’, ‘papen Godt’, bacte goeen’; for some later nicknames see Acquoy, J. G. R., Jan van Venray en de wording en vestiging der hervormde gemeente te Zalt-Bommcl,'s-Hertogenbosch 1873, 43.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 1} E.g., De Hoop Scheffer, 564; G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 45.

^{page 54 note 2} E.g., C.D., iv. 198; v. 243; G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 45^v; Fredericq, P., ‘Sentence prononcée contre Guillaume van Zwolle par l'inquisiteur général des Pays-Bas 1529’, in Bulletin de I'académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, 3ème série, XXX (1895), 263.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 3} Apparently there was little demand for communion in both kinds in the Low Countries, but see C.D., iv. 198; P. Fredericq, op. cit., 263.

^{page 54 note 4} Oberman, H. A., Forerunners of the Reformation: the shape of Late Medieval Thought, London 1967, 252–3.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 5} See the justifiably cautious remarks on Sacramentarianism in Delft of Oosterbaan, D. P., De Oude Kerk te Delft gedurende de Middeleeuwen, The Hague 1973, 234–5.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 6} Kochs, E. ‘Die Anfänge der ostfriesischen Reformation’, in Jahrbuch der Gesellschqft für bildende Kunst und vaterländische Altertümer zu Emden, XIX (1916–1918), 218–20Google Scholar, 253–60; Forsthoff, H., Rheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1: die Reformation am Niederrhein, Essen 1929, esp. ch. vii.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 7} C.D., v. 189–90. Possibly he had in mind Oecolampadius's De genuina verborum Domini: ‘Hoc est corpus meum’ juxta vetustissimos authores expositione liber, also printed in the summer of 1525.

^{page 54 note 8} De Hoop Scheffer, 514.

^{page 54 note 9} Rupp, E. G., Patterns of Reformation, London 1969, 142.Google Scholar

^{page 54 note 10} K. Vos, op. cit., 13–15.

^{page 54 note 11} C.D., iv. 372.

^{page 54 note 12} For the period 1526–8 Fredericq records at least 14 prosecutions, some of which involved more than one person.

¹³ C.D., v. 139–41.

^{page 55 note 1} Bezemer, op. cit., 49.

^{page 55 note 2} C.D., v. 344–5.

^{page 55 note 3} C.D., v. 364.

^{page 55 note 4} C.D., v. 280.

^{page 55 note 5} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 79^v.

^{page 55 note 6} E.g., Bezemer, op. cit., 47; G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 80^v; Redlich, 310.

^{page 55 note 7} C.D., v. 224.

^{page 55 note 8} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 45^v. On the other hand, Nicolaus Christi would only tolerate lights before the reserved sacrament on the grounds that God alone should be worshipped: C.D., v. 61.

^{page 55 note 9} C.D., iv. 91.

^{page 56 note 1} R.A. Utrecht, Bisschoppelijk archief, no. 537.

^{page 56 note 2} C.D., iv. 488–91; v. 280.

^{page 56 note 3} C.D., v. 224.

^{page 56 note 4} Bezemer, op. cit., 48–9.

^{page 56 note 5} See C.D., v. 224.

^{page 56 note 6} C.D., iv. 91; cf. iv. 106.

^{page 56 note 7} C.D., iv. 196; see also P. Fredericq, op. cit., 263.

^{page 56 note 8} C. D., iv. 370.

^{page 56 note 9} C.D., iv. 459; cf. Latin version iv. 419.

^{page 56 note 10} C.D., iv.456;cf. Latin version iv. 416; also iv. 433.

^{page 57 note 1} C.D., iv. 473.

^{page 57 note 2} C.D., iv. 457.

^{page 57 note 3} C.D., iv. 477.

^{page 57 note 4} Post, op. cit., 587; the Leiden printer and bookseller Peter van Balen had sold at least seven copies of Luther's De libertate Christiana by 1526: Visser, op. cit., 23.

^{page 57 note 5} E.g., C.D., iv. 162, 246, 247; Post, op. cit., 586–8.

^{page 57 note 6} C.D., iv. 284.

^{page 57 note 7} E.g., C.D. v. 124–5, 286–8, 368–70.

^{page 57 note 8} C.D., iv. 87.

^{page 57 note 9} C.D., v. 243.

^{page 57 note 10} C.D., v. 44.

^{page 58 note 1} Moreau, op. cit., 76.

^{page 58 note 2} Post, R. R., ‘Johann Pupper von Goch’, in Nederlands archief voor kerkgeschiedenis, nieuwe serie, XLVII (1965–1966), 83–97.Google Scholar

^{page 58 note 3} Though clerics married before 1525, Luther's own marriage on 13 June 1525 may have encouraged evangelicals to defend their action openly; an apostate religious on Texel defended his departure from the monastery and his subsequent marriage by citing Luther's example: C.D., v. 357.

^{page 58 note 4} De Hoop Scheffer, 372–5.

^{page 58 note 5} C.D., iv. 453–95 passim. Heer Jan only entered the priesthood at his father's bidding and he had striven unsuccessfully to dampen his sexual desires by fasting, watches, hard work and living celibately for two years.

^{page 58 note 6} R. A. Utrecht, Bisschoppelijk archief 537. Heer Andries had Phil. iv. 3 in mind. Erasmus had paraphrased ‘germana compar’ as ‘vera germana coniunx’: Beare, F. F., Commentary on the Epistle to Philippians, London 1944, 144.Google Scholar I am indebted to Dr. E. O. Blake for discovering the probable source of Heer Andries's improbable exegesis.

^{page 58 note 7} C.D., iv. 371–3. Karlstadt considered that bishops should be married in conformity with 1 Tim. iii, 2, see Barge, H., Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, I, Leipzig 1905, 265.Google Scholar

^{page 58 note 8} Bezemer, op. cit., 47; cf. Refereinen van Anna Bijns, 74, e.1.7: ‘Vasten maect hooftsweer’.

^{page 59 note 1} C.D., iv. 87; see also C.D., iv. 197 480–81; v. 55.

^{page 59 note 2} Refereinen van Anna Bijns, 72–5.

^{page 59 note 3} C.D., iv. 92, 196.

^{page 59 note 4} C.D., iv. 458; Latin version iv. 418.

^{page 59 note 5} C.D., iv. 494; cf. Doesburg Chronicle cited by Post, op. cit., 586.

^{page 59 note 6} C.D., v. 347.

^{page 59 note 7} Pekelharing, op. cit., 10.

^{page 59 note 8} Visser, op. cit., 153–6.

^{page 59 note 9} C.D., iv. 86.

^{page 59 note 10} R. A. Utrecht, Bisschoppelijk archief, no. 537.

^{page 59 note 11} C.D., v. 243.

^{page 60 note 1} C.D., v. 41–62.

^{page 60 note 2} Nicolaus Christi used to meet a certain Nicolaus Antwerpiensis, who had been punished by Mr. Frans van der Hulst. Possibly he is to be identified with Nicolaus Buscoducensis who had been arrested on 1521, suspected of ‘lutherije’.

^{page 60 note 3} Oberman, H. A., The Harvest of Medieval Theology, Harvard 1963, 464–5.Google Scholar

^{page 60 note 4} C.D., v. 48–9.

^{page 60 note 5} C.D., v. 53.

^{page 60 note 6} C.D., v. 137

^{page 61 note 1} Refereinen van Anna Bijns, 58, g.l. 3; cf. Bezemer, op. cit., 47: ‘God heeft genoech voor ons alien gedaen’.

^{page 61 note 2} De Bruin, op. cit., 185–6.

^{page 61 note 3} Visser, op. cit., 113–4; Vogel, P. H., Europäische Bibeldrucke des 15. und 16. Jahrhvnderts in den Volkssprachen, Baden-Baden 1962, 63–9.Google Scholar In the period 1523–8 there were fifteen complete or partial translations of the Bible based on Luther's text; see Kronenberg, M. E., ‘Uitgaven van Luther in de Nederlanden verschenen tot 1541’, Nederlands archief voor kerkgeschiedenis, nieuwe serie, XI (1953), 20–21.Google Scholar

^{page 61 note 4} C.D., iv. 106.

^{page 61 note 5} C.D., v. 55; G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 46.

^{page 61 note 6} C.D., iv. 36. At a chapter meeting of the Dominicans at Haarlem in 1522 the friars were urged to familiarise themselves with the Bible ‘et maxime in Novo Testamento’: Acta capitulorum provinciae germaniae inferioris ordinis praedicatorum ab anno MDXV usque ad annum MDLIX, ed. Wolfs, S.P., , O.P., The Hague 1969, 50.Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 1} C.D., iv. 246.

^{page 62 note 2} De Hoop Scheffer, 566–7.

^{page 62 note 3} For ‘zielmoerder’ see G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 146, fol. 112^v; for the use of ‘soul-murder’ by the English Puritans, see Porter, H. C., Puritanism in Tudor England, London 1970, 218.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 4} De Hoop Scheffer, 513.

^{page 62 note 5} Augustijn, C., ‘“Allein das heilig Evangelium”: het mandaat van het Reichsregiment 6 maart 1523’, in Nederlands archief voor kerkgeschiedenis, nieuwe serie, XLVIII (1968), 150–65.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 62 note 6} E.g., the Church Order of Groningen c. 1538 which was proclaimed again in 1558, De Hoop Scheffer, 311; van Dijk, E., ‘Dr. Johannes Eelts, ca. 1528–1588, persona te Groningen, en de tegenstelling katholicisme/protestantisme in zijn tijd’, in Groningse volksalmanak, (1970–1971), 22.Google Scholar In August 1534 the vroedschap of Gouda agreed with States of Holland that the best antidote to heresy was the preaching of ‘'t eeuwangelium’, see G. A. Gouda, 43, fol. 153^v.

^{page 62 note 7} De Bruin, op. cit., 191–2. In 1535 the bishop of Liège ordered the surrender to the authorities of all Bibles printed during the previous twenty years, see Dagboek van … Christiaan Munters, 31.

^{page 63 note 1} Richard, W., Untersuchungen der Genesis der reformierten Kirchenterminologie der Westschweiz und Frankreichs mil besonderer Berüksichtigung der Namengebung, Zurich 1959, 8–13.Google Scholar

^{page 63 note 2} C.D., v. 46.

^{page 63 note 3} C.D., v. 142; Willem van Zwolle believed that ‘monasticism was contrary and repugnant to the gospel’: P. Fredericq, op. cit., 263.

^{page 63 note 4} Bezemer, op. cit., 47, 49. Heer Andries was accused of omitting the canon of the mass, R. A. Utrecht, Bisschoppelijk archief, no. 537.

^{page 63 note 5} C.D., v. 350.

^{page 63 note 6} Hoenderdaal, G. J., “Erasmus en de Nederlandse reformatie’, in Vox Theologica, XXXIX (1969), 127.Google Scholar

^{page 63 note 7} Lindeboom, J., Hel bijbelsch humanisme, Leiden 1923, 200–210Google Scholar; C.D., iv. 105–10.

^{page 64 note 1} Moreau, op. cit., 76.

^{page 64 note 2} Cf. the opinion of Geiler von Kayserberg that the Bible ranked equally with the sacrament of the altar as a means of grace, Delaruelle, E., Ourliac, E. R. Labande et P., L'Eglise au temps du Grand Schisme et de la crise conciliaire 1378–1449, Histoire de l'Eglise depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours, XIV (ii), Tournai 1964, 712.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 3} G. A. Gouda, O.R.A. 147, fol. 45–46.

^{page 64 note 4} The anonymous crippled tailor's apprentice, seen attending conventicles at Jannichgen's house in Gouda, is probably one and the same as the tailor Pieter Florisz. ‘de Crepel’, see G. A. Gouda O.R.A. 147, fols. 79^v, 81^r.

^{page 64 note 5} Bezemer, op. cit., 47–52.

^{page 64 note 6} With the exception of their opposition to tithes, all the opinions held by the three Dutchmen prosecuted for heresy before the church court at York in the period 1528–1534 were shared by contemporary Dutch sacramentarians. This is perhaps yet another reason for placing a question mark against their Lollard origins; see Dickens, A. G., Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1500–1558, Oxford 1959, 17–23Google Scholar and Thomson, J. A. F., The Later Lollards, 1414–1520, Oxford 1965, 200.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 1} Thomas, K., Religion and the Decline of Magic: studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England, London 1971, chs. ii, iii.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 2} Visser, op. cit., 82–3.

^{page 66 note 1} De Hoop Scheffer, 109.

^{page 66 note 2} As no list of persons executed for heresy or affiliated crimes in the 1520s has been compiled, the following may serve as a rough guide: Joannes van Esschen (Brussels, 1523), Hendrik Voes (Brussels, 1523), Clara't Roen (Aalst, 1523/4), Nicolaas (Antwerp, 1525), Heer Jan van Woerden (The Hague, 1525), two ‘jofferen van Nymegen’ (Arnhem, 1526), Hector van Dommele (Bruges, 1527), Wendelmoet Claesdr. (The Hague, 1527), Henri de Westphalie (Tournai, 1528), Lambrecht Thoren (Brussels, 1528), Willem van Zwolle (Mechelen, 1529), Anthonis Fredericks (The Hague, 1529), Cornelis Wouters (The Hague, 1529), Catalijne Bouwens (The Hague, 1529), unnamed man from Turnhout (Brussels, 1529).

The following names concern persons about whose ‘martyrdom’ there is a good deal of doubt: Willem Dircksz. die Cuper (Utrecht, 1525), Bernard the Carmelite (Mechelen, 1525), a French priest (Liège, 1528), three clerics including Arnoldus (Arnhem 1529), four men and two women (Bergen op Zoom, 1529).

^{page 66 note 3} R. J. Knecht, ‘The Early Reformation in England and France’, in History, lvii (1972), 1–16.

^{page 66 note 4} C.D., iv. 396; v. 112.

^{page 67 note 1} Kochs, E., ‘Die Anfänge der ostfriesischen Reformation’, in Jahrbuch der Gesdlschaft für bildende Kunst und vaterländische Altertümer, XX (1920), 26–7.Google Scholar

^{page 67 note 2} H. Forsthoff, op. cit., chs. iv, v.

^{page 67 note 3} The Letters of Sir John Hackett, 158.

^{page 67 note 4} C. Krahn, Dutch Anabaptism: Origin, Spread, Life and Thought, 1450–1600, The Hague 1968, 81; see also Goeters, J. F. G., ‘Die Rolle des Taufertums in der Reformations-geschichte des Niederrheins’ in Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter, XXIV (1959), 224.Google Scholar

^{page 67 note 5} For the names of sacramentarians who later became Anabaptists, see De Hoop Scheffer, 618–9 and Mellink, A. F., De wederdopers in de noordelijke Nederlanden, 1531–1544, Groningen–Djakarta 1953, 334–44.Google Scholar

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The Face of Popular Religious Dissent in the Low Countries, 1520–1530

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