Pieter de Guliker (d. 1571)

Pieter de Guliker (Peter of Jülich; official name Pieter Aertsz), a Dutch Anabaptist, was arrested with a number of members of the congregation at Nieuwvaart (now the village de Klundert), not far from Breda, Dutch province of North Brabant, on 5 August 1571, while they were attending a worship service in the house in which Pieter de Guliker, a tailor, lived in the front, and Jan Pieters, a weaver, lived in the rear. The meeting was betrayed to the mayor Anthonis van der Broek, while he was in Gerrit Vorster's tavern. After a confinement of two days at this place the prisoners were taken to Breda, where they were brutally tortured. Pieter de Guliker recanted and was beheaded, whereas the others remained steadfast and died at the stake.

W. Meindersma published a study of these martyrs (DB 1912), which reveals the following facts about them: Preaching services were held at two places; namely, at Pieter's home and at the home of the widow Elsken Deckers. The records of the trial indicate that there were about 50 persons at the meeting, rather than 100, as stated by van Braght in the Martyrs' Mirror. The police raid occurred while Theunis was preaching. Several of the imprisoned women managed to escape. Two were seized on 24 August—Hilleken Jacobs, Jacob Cornelis' maid, 25 years old, and Anneken, the wife of Pieter Pieters of Klundert, 58 years old. The execution probably took place in October. The judges were two members of the City Council of Brussels, Desiderius van Sestich and Nikolaus de Zoete. The Meindersma account also includes a letter not found in the Martyrs' Mirror, which Pieter wrote to his wife.

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: 603-5.

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: 929-31. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm. 

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1912): 30-48.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 198.

Author(s)	Karel Vos
Date Published	1959

Cite This Article

MLA style

Vos, Karel. "Pieter de Guliker (d. 1571)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieter_de_Guliker_(d._1571)&oldid=96030.

APA style

Vos, Karel. (1959). Pieter de Guliker (d. 1571). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieter_de_Guliker_(d._1571)&oldid=96030.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 170. All rights reserved.

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