Geert Cornelis, wife of Frans Philipsz of Leiden, was put in a sack and drowned near the Schooltoren in the moat of Delft, Dutch province of South Holland, on 24 January 1539. (The year 1538 given by Brandt is wrong; it must have been 1539.) Brandt mentions that this woman, who was a follower of David Joris, was of lax sexual morals; during the trial she gave information about the sex behavior of the Davidjorists with words that, as Brandt says, should not contaminate the paper. It was largely rumored that among the Davidjorists there was much immorality. In most cases these rumors have proved to be false or at least inaccurate and much exaggerated. But there was a germ of truth in those reports, as the case of Geert Cornelis proves. 

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 442. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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