View source for Matthijs, Hans (d. after 1618)

 Hans Matthijs (Matthijsz, Matthysen) was from about 1580 an elder of the [[High German Mennonites|High German Mennonite]] group at Haarlem, Holland, who later joined the [[Waterlanders|Waterlander]] congregation. It seems that he was present at the disputation held at [[Leeuwarden Disputation (1596)|Leeuwarden in 1596]] between the Reformed minister Ruardus Acronius and the Mennonite Elder [[Peter van Coelen (16th century)|Pieter van Ceulen]]; for in a letter dated Leeuwarden, 14 December, 1596, and addressed to the noted Waterlander Elder [[Ries, Hans de (1553–1638)|Hans de Ries]], then at [[Emden (Niedersachsen, Germany)|Emden]], Germany, he wrote about this dispute, of which he expected little result. In 1608 he played a somewhat unclear role in a quarrel caused in the United Waterlander-High German congregation of Haarlem by the controversies of [[Clock, Leenaert (d. after 1638)|Leenaert Clock]] and Denijs van Hulle. Concerning his person and activity there is little information. A letter found in the [[Amsterdam Mennonite Library (Bibliotheek en Archief van de Vereenigde
Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam)|Amsterdam archives]] (II, 2, No. 656) seems to indicate that he was living at Leeuwarden in 1612, an elder of the local congregation. In 1613 he published <em>Brief om overghelevert te warden aen de leraren der Vlaemscher Mennoniten . . .</em> (Haarlem, 1613). In the same year he was one of the delegates at the Waterlander conference held at Workum, [[Friesland (Netherlands)|Friesland]], to consider disciplinary measures against [[Eenkes, Rippert (16th/17th century)|Rippert Eenkes]]. If the name Hans Martens, found in a report of 1618 (<em>Inv. Arch. Amst. </em>II, 2, 662), refers—as is probable—to Hans Matthijs, he was still living in 1618 and active in solving the matter of Rippert Eenkes.


= Bibliography =
<em>Doopsgezinde Bijdragen</em> (1864): 41, 51, 531; (1897): 112; (1903): 59 f., 64.

Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. <em>Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam</em>, 2 vols. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: I, Nos. 476, 493, 527; II, Nos. 1358, 1362 f.; II, 2, No. 656.


{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 3, p. 541|date=1957|a1_last=van der Zijpp|a1_first=Nanne|a2_last= |a2_first= }}