Lenaert Plovier (d. 1560)
Engraving by Jan Luiken in Martyrs' Mirror, v. 2, p. 271 of Dutch edition.
Source: Rijksmuseum.
Lenaert Plovier (Plouvier, Pluvier, Plumer) was an Anabaptist martyr, who on 4 April 1560 (Offer 1559, but this means by the old calendar), was executed at Antwerp, Belgium, with Janneken Eghels and Maeyken de Hont. They were put in a sack and drowned in a wine cask at the Steen castle at Antwerp. The Offer contains his testament, a letter to his children, and a hymn, "Testament van Lenaert Plovier." The Groot Offerboek of 1615 and following martyrs' books, including van Braght's Martyrs' Mirror, give a number of particulars, procured by his son. Lenaert was a native of Meenen (Menin) in Flanders (according to the records of Antwerp he was born at Wervik, Flanders). Living in Meenen, he was a well-to-do cloth merchant. In 1555 he united with the Mennonite congregation of Meenen; he refused his reappointment as assayer of cloth, because the office required him to take an oath. Shortly after, he moved from Meenen to Antwerp, where he started a silk business. Knowing that persecution also threatened him in Antwerp he intended to move to the Netherlands. He had already sent his wife Maeyken with their four little children to the Dutch province of Friesland and had put his property in safety, when he was arrested, and being unwilling to deny his faith, was put to death. In vain his parents tried to have him released. During the night of execution two friends, Kerstine van Damme and Joost Noe, who later lived at Franeker, Dutch province of Friesland, had secretly listened at the wall of the castle, that they might hear some last word of Lenaert. The name of this martyr is also found in the hymn "Aenhoort Godt, hemelsche Vader" (Hear, O God, heavenly Father), No. 16 of the Lietboeken van den Offer des Heeren. In prison he wrote six letters, but only one of these has been preserved. It is found in van Braght's Martyrs' Mirror. In the 17th and 18th centuries a number of Ploviers were members of the Flemish congregation at Haarlem, Holland. Their relationship with Lenaert Plovier could not be ascertained.
Bibliography
Dit Boec wort genoemt: Het Offer des Herren, om het inhout van sommighe opgheofferde kinderen Godts . . . N.p., 1570: 367-373, 567, 667.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doopsgesinde 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, 270-272.
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: 641-643. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.
Génard, Petrus. Antwerpsch archievenblad: IX, 7, 11; XIV, 28 f., No. 315.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III: 379.
Wolkan, Rudolf. Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer. Berlin, 1903. Reprinted Nieuwkoop: B. De Graaf, 1965: 67.
| Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Lenaert Plovier (d. 1560)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lenaert_Plovier_(d._1560)&oldid=141571.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1959). Lenaert Plovier (d. 1560). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lenaert_Plovier_(d._1560)&oldid=141571.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 321. All rights reserved.
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