Bartel (de) Boeckbinder (Bartholomeus van Halle), a bookbinder of 's Hertogenbosch in Brabant, a Dutch Anabaptist, was one of the twelve apostles who were sent out from Amsterdam in 1533 by Jan Matthysz. Bartel went to Friesland with Dirck Cuyper and baptized four persons in Leeuwarden, among them Obbe Philips; on the next day he ordained Obbe and Hans Scheerder as elders. Bartel, who preached in Sneek and Dordrecht as well as at other places, was obviously an influential man. Later he went to Münster, arriving there on 5 January 1534, in the company of Willem de Cuyper. Although Bartel was not a disciple of the Münster doctrine of violence, he was nevertheless a very confused spirit, a follower of Melchior Hoffman. On 22 March 1534, Bartel de Boeckbinder, Pieter de Houtsager, Willem de Cuyper, and others ran through the streets of Amsterdam with drawn swords in their right hands as a symbol of God's vengeance, loudly crying woe over the city and calling the ungodly to repentance. When the police seized them they did not change their attitude. Bartel and also Pieter and Willem were beheaded about 26 March 1534 at Haarlem.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 238. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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