Biestkens, Nicolaes (d. 1585)
Nicolaes Biestkens, of Diest, Flanders, a printer at Emden, a member of the Mennonite congregation there, rendered great service to the church by printing and publishing Mennonite books. Of his publications the best known is the Bible he printed in 1560 for the use of the Mennonites, known as the Biestkens Bible. Two years later he probably published the Dutch martyr- and hymnbook, Het Offer des Heeren. He may also have printed the third (1567), the fourth (1570), and the fifth (1578) editions of this book. Then he perhaps moved to Amsterdam, where he printed in 1582 or 1583 the fourth enlarged edition of the oldest Dutch hymnary, entitled, Het tweede Liedeboek, van vele diversche Liedekens, ghemaect wt den ouden ende nieuwen Testamente, waer af sommighe eertijts in Druck uutghegaen, ende sommige noyt in Druck gheweest hebbende, daer by ghevoecht.
Bibliography
Dit Boec wort genoemt: Het Offer des Herren, om het inhout van sommighe opgheofferde kinderen Godts . . . N.p., 1570: 8 ff., 20.
Catalogus der werken over de Doopsgezinden en hunne geschiedenis aanwezig in de bibliotheek der Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam. Amsterdam: J.H. de Bussy, 1919: 211, 266.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 220.
Cate, Steven Blaupot ten. Geschiedenis der Doopsgezinden in Groningen, Overijssel en Oost-Friesland, 2 vols. Leeuwarden: W. Eekhoff en J. B. Wolters, 1842: v. I, 127, 140, 201.
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1882): 53; (1890): 64; (1918): 107.
Doopsgezind Jaarboekje (1837): 55 ff.
Wolkan, Rudolf. Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer. Berlin, 1903. Reprinted Nieuwkoop : B. De Graaf, 1965: 70.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 341. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.
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MLA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Biestkens, Nicolaes (d. 1585)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2009 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B54010.html>
APA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1953). "Biestkens, Nicolaes (d. 1585)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2009 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B54010.html>
