Pieter Aelbrechts (d. 1568)
Pieter Aelbrechts (Pierken van Cleve) of Kleve, an Anabaptist martyr, was burned at the stake on 30 March 1568, on the Veerle square at Gent, Belgium, together with Jan van Parijs, Hendrik Maelschap (van Braght writes Maelschalk), and Laurens Pieters. When they arrived at the site of execution the Spanish provost compelled the executioner who was to strangle them as the sentence decreed, to burn them. The waiting victims had meanwhile begun a song, "Ik roep U o hemelsche Vader aen" (I call upon Thee, O heavenly Father). So the Spaniards beat them violently and mutilated them terribly, and then burned them alive. They were aenkomende vrienden, that is, not yet admitted into the brotherhood by baptism. Pieter and his co-martyrs are commemorated in the hymn "Een liedeken van XLI Vrienden," found in the edition of 1578 of the Lietboecxken.
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: 367.
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: 273. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.
Dit Boec wort genoemt: Het Offer des Herren, om het inhout van sommighe opgheofferde kinderen Godts . . . N.p., 1562, 1567, 1570, 1578, 1580, Amsterdam, 1590, n.p., 1591, Amsterdam, 1595, Harlingen, 1599. The 1570 edition is cited as reproduced in BRN II., 51-486, including Een Lietboecxken, tracterende van den Offer des Heeren (pp. 499-617): 652.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 364.
Verheyden, A. L. E. Het Gentsche Martyrologium (1530-1595). Brugge: De Tempel, 1946: 43, No. 137.
| Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Pieter Aelbrechts (d. 1568)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieter_Aelbrechts_(d._1568)&oldid=106030.
APA style
van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1959). Pieter Aelbrechts (d. 1568). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieter_Aelbrechts_(d._1568)&oldid=106030.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 169. All rights reserved.
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