Hendrik van Zutphen’s Martyrdom

Jacob Probst’s Report of Hendrik van Zutphen’s Martyrdom

Jacob of Ypres, to the true disciple of Christ, Martin Luther:

Grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only mediator and a priest into eternity [1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 5:6]. What should I say, dearest brothers? Where should I begin? The soul is in distress, and my spirit cries out to the Lord [Baruch 3:1], and I have no respite. I say: “Behold! How the righteous man passes away, and there is no one who reflects on it in his heart! Men of mercy are gathered up, because there is no one who understands! For the righteous man is gathered up to be taken away from malice!” [Isa. 57:1].

Our brother Hendrik, the intrepid preacher of the word of God, is slain. And he perished in a manner suggesting that he was not beloved by God. Nevertheless, his blood is precious in the sight of the Lord [Ps. 72:14], even if it was made cheap in front of the people of Dithmarschen. O Lord, how long shall we cry out, and you will not answer? Why do you show regard for the despisers and keep silent while the impious tramples underfoot the one more righteous than he? Yes, Father, it is because this was your good pleasure [Matt. 11:26]. For no disciple is above the teacher, nor is a servant above the master. It is sufficient for a student to be like his teacher, and for a servant to be like his master. If they have called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! Therefore we shall not be afraid of them [Matt. 10:24–26]. For this is their hour and the power of darkness [Luke 22:53]. Therefore we, the lovers of the truth, grieve and advance in dejection. The adversaries rejoice and advance with heads held high. We nevertheless grieve like this over the death of Hendrik, in order that we may rejoice just as much in the presence of the Lord, certain of a new martyr of Christ. They, on the other hand, rejoice in the presence of the world, and their joy, I do not doubt, will only be like a moment. But be satisfied with a brief account of what happened, for my soul is too sad for me to write at length.

Hendrik was invited to Dithmarschen by a certain pastor in Meldorf, a Christian and apostolic man, with the consent of several leading men of that place, in Meldorf. Since Hendrik was an eager and true witness of Christ, he set out to go there, confident in the Lord. His friends were against it, but he would not listen, because he was saying that he was being called there by God.

When he arrived, he received a very warm welcome from Christian people. But the monks, hostile to true piety and Christian truth, go running, pursuing, and exerting themselves in a frenzy, and they finally obtain from certain elders of their country a prohibition forbidding Hendrik from preaching. But he, knowing that we must be more obedient to God than to men, preached two sermons on the Second Sunday in Advent [Dec. 4], and all who were present rejoiced and praised God for his gift. He similarly preached two sermons on St. Nicholas’s Day [Dec. 6], with the people flocking to hear them from nearly every corner. He similarly preached two sermons on the Feast of the Conception of the Virgin [Dec. 8], and everyone was astonished at his teaching.

Meanwhile the monks were exerting themselves with the utmost diligence, complaining and inciting commotion, and they achieved what they wanted. For on Friday night, after midnight, before the Third Sunday of Advent, forty or fifty armed men arrived in Meldorf, using the monks’ lamps for their light, and, full of Hamburg beer, they forcibly entered the pastor’s house in a hostile manner and cruelly dragged Christ’s martyr out of bed. After tying him to the tail of a horse, they dragged him with great exaltation to Heide, which is a good mile distant from Meldorf.¹ When they arrived there, they threw him into the cellar of a certain priest. Everyone was drinking, singing, and making sport.

When morning came, they dragged him to the fire with the utmost disgrace. This fire died out twice in the sight of everyone, which they attributed to magical arts, as is fitting for such people. Now a certain Christian woman, positioning herself between Hendrik and the fire, offered a thousand gulden to leave him unharmed until he could be convicted legally and burned then. But there was no listening on that point, and the woman, having received a blow to her head, was forced to withdraw. And the verdict was given by someone who was not the judge that year. But he still accepted ten gulden from the man whose duty it was to render verdicts, and he rendered the verdict with these words: “Let this malefactor, who has blasphemed God and his mother, be burned!” Hendrik said, “I have not done these things.” But the shouting prevailed: “Burn him! Burn him!” And when he prayed for them to the heavenly Father, they mocked him and spit on him.

Finally, after he had received a number of wounds, he was thrown into the third fire. And at least twenty wounds were counted on his body. Then his spirit returned to the Father, and his body remained unburned that entire day. But on the next day, which was the Third Sunday in Advent, they cut the head, hands, and feet off the dead man’s corpse and burned them in a new fire they had built. But they are said to have buried the trunk after performing a dance around the corpse.

Thus, thus pass away the servants of Christ; thus the words of the teacher are fulfilled! I am unable to write more. Pray to the Divine Majesty that he would condescend to bestow such steadfastness upon us, too! Oh, if I had had but a tiny drop of this kind of faith and steadfastness, I would now be resting securely in Christ, I who roll along in various miseries, afflictions, anxieties, and sins! Farewell! The Spirit of Christ be with you all.

Martin, dearest father in Christ, I would have written this letter to the people of Antwerp, but the mail carrier had departed and left this letter behind, which I am now sending to Your Paternity, and I entreat your kindness and beseech you through Jesus Christ to comfort us with a single letter addressed to the entire church in Bremen. I beg you, do not deny me, since I am not the only one asking for this, but many people are, and celebrate the martyr of Christ and rebuke the villainy of the monks! Pardon the blathering, I beg you! My soul is sorrowful to the point of death [Matt. 26:38]. For I am weary of living any longer as I witness so much evil all around, and my old Adam is not dead either. Pray for us!

Yours,
Jacob

[Written around the middle of December 1524]

Photo by Dirk Ingo Franke, CC BY-SA 3.0