Johannes Pistorius (Jan de Bakker or Jan Jansz van Woerden), b. 1499, was the first victim of the Inquisition in the Netherlands. He was a Roman Catholic priest who rejected the doctrine of the Mass and other Catholic doctrines. From 11 July to 7 September 1525, Pistorius was interrogated by the inquisitor Ruardus Tapper. He was arrested in May 1525 and imprisoned at The Hague. One of his prison mates was Guilhelmus (Willem) Gnapheus, to whom he dictated the questions of the inquisitors and his own answers and who then wrote a circumstantial account of the cross-examinations of Pistorius. In the sentence he is called a Lutheran, but this means merely that he was a Sacramentist. He was burned at the stake at The Hague on 15 September 1525.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 182-183. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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