Adriaen Jacobs (d. 1571)

Adriaen Jacobs, a Dutch Mennonite martyr, was arrested 5 August 1571, when a Mennonite meeting was surprised by the sheriff at Nieuwvaart, or Klundert, in the Dutch province of Brabant. Adriaen was from nearby Dordrecht; he was twenty-eight years old and married. He was a cloth-shearer by trade, a well-educated and well-to-do man. The martyr Cornelis Cornelisz de Gijselaer, taken prisoner at the same time, was his uncle.  Adriaen was tortured several times and very cruelly. On 21 August, after severe torture, he felt very weak and was inclined to recant his convictions, and requested mercy, but the next day, having been tortured again jusques aux os (to the bones), he was strong and steadfast in his faith. He confessed that he had been baptized at Dordrecht by a person called Lenartsz, and that he had regularly attended the meetings of the congregation in that town. In his prison he wrote some letters to the "Church of God at Dordrecht." These letters are all lost. A "testament" or farewell letter to his wife never reached the poor woman, because it fell into the hands of the commissioner; in this way it was saved. It has been published in Doopsgezinde Bijdragen 1912: 45-48. Adriaen was executed, probably in October 1571, at Klundert. It is rather surprising that van Braght, who circumstantially deals with that surprised meeting of Klundert and its victims, does not mention the martyr Adriaen Jacobs.

Bibliography

Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doops-gesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: Part II, 603-605.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 929. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/contents.htm.

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1912): 30-48. Available in full electronic text at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924057361960;view=1up;seq=40.

Author(s)	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1955

Cite This Article

MLA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Adriaen Jacobs (d. 1571)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1955. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Adriaen_Jacobs_(d._1571)&oldid=131358.

APA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1955). Adriaen Jacobs (d. 1571). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Adriaen_Jacobs_(d._1571)&oldid=131358.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 15-16. All rights reserved.

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