Vreden, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (coordinates: 52° 1′ 59″ N, 6° 49′ 59″ E), where there was some revolutionary Anabaptist activity in 1534-35. A number of Mennonites lived here ca. 1600. In 1593 the Catholic priest of Vreden complained that some of the children were unbaptized and that a few persons neglected to have their marriages solemnized in the (Catholic) church. There is an old Mennonite song addressed "aen de vrienden terstede/ tot Boeckholt en tot Vrede/ tot Almelo oock mede"; this seems to indicate the existence of a con­gregation at Vreden. Shortly after 1600 all Mennon­ites were banished from the town, and though this sentence was never carried out rigorously, most Mennonites had left the town before 1615. Members of the following families are named as Mennonites here ca. 1600: Straalman, Hofkes, Holscher, Brommel (Brummel), Willink, Degenehr (Degenaar), Swerink, Budde(n), Portener, Walien. Some of these are found among the Dutch Mennonites at other places, particularly at Enschede, about the same time or later. The Mennonite elder Hendrik van Vreeden and the Dutch Mennonite van Vre(e)den family found at Amsterdam in the 17th and 18^th centuries may originally have been natives of Vre­den.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 861. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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