Six Brothers and Two Sisters

1549

In the year 1549 about twenty persons, men as well as women, were imprisoned at Amsterdam for the truth of Jesus Christ. The names of all of them are not known, especially since some of them escaped from prison in the following manner: One of the prisoners had two brothers living in Waterlandt, who were rough fellows, and spent much of their time in taverns. So at a certain time it happened that as they were sitting in the tavern, they began to think of their imprisoned brother, and thinking that the time when he would be offered up was drawing near, they talked over among themselves how they could best set him free, and swore an oath that they would shrink from neither labor nor danger, even though it should cost their lives; in confirmation of which they held up their fingers, tossed their hats in the air, and called God to witness. In the morning, when they were awake and had become sober, their dangerous plan troubled them somewhat; but remembering the solemn oath which they owed to God, and also the sad departure of their dear brother, they showed the firmness of Romans, and proceeded in the following manner. They took a rope with a block, which had been well greased, so that the dry block should make no noise. They packed this into a basket, and took it to the house of Jan Jans, who lived opposite the prison, in the crescent, and said to him: "Jan Jans, may we leave this basket here, and call for it late in the evening, whenever it suits us?"

Jan Jans agreed, without ever thinking of the dangerous plan, until they came to get their basket.

This Jan Jans had a cousin among the prisoners, named Ellert Jans, who had a wooden leg and was a tailor, whom the Bailiff had taken from his shop on the new dyke. So these two brothers made use of a dark evening, and brought a boat hook with them, which they thrust into the window, and then climbed up by it. They then made a rope fast, and broke open the windows with a crowbar. Having accomplished this, they let their brother down from the window with a rope, and at once went to the other prisoners, all of whom they let down through the window, except Ellert Jan, who refused to go out. He told them as his reason that he was of such good cheer to offer his sacrifice, and felt so happy, that he did not expect to become any better even through a long life, since he feared that on the way through the long desert his courage might fail him, and that he would then never get across the Jordan and reach the promised land. He also said that he was too well known by his wooden leg, so that he could easily be described for the purpose of arrest.

But Tobias, Pieter, Grietgen, Jan, Lyntgen and Barbartgen were confined in other dungeons, where they could hear them well, but could not get to them. They remained in confinement until the time of their offering up was fulfilled, except Lyntgen, who was spared because she was pregnant. She also gave birth to a child while in bonds; but the pain of delivery affected her so much that she became completely deranged in her mind. After this she lay yet for a long time at Amsterdam, in a little house, in which she also died.

When the day had come on which the persons named above were to offer up their sacrifices, this Jan Jans stationed himself close to the tribunal, to see what spirit his cousin Ellert Jans would show in the last hour of his life. As soon as Ellert Jans saw his cousin, he spoke to him with such a happy face that all who heard him listened in astonishment. He also handed him a testament through the iron bars of the tribunal; but the bailiff cried out like a ferocious lion:

"Where is the book?" But he could not find it out.

With many good arguments he admonished everyone, and chiefly his cousin Jan Jans, that he should no longer let himself be seduced by the adorned woman, the whore of Babylon, but should enter upon the way to the city of all good things. Indeed, he said, he had never lived a happier day; which Jan took so much to heart that he afterwards also took the burden of the cross upon himself. So all the friends named above ended their lives in great joy, and were burned alive. Shortly afterwards a lover of the truth composed a hymn in remembrance of them, in which the first letter of each verse agrees with the first letter of the names. It is found in the old hymnbook, and is the first of those beginning with T: "'Tis nu schier al vervudt," [n685-1] and so on.

The sentence of these six brothers and two sisters we obtained from the book of criminal sentences of the city of Amsterdam, through the secretary of that city; except the title, which reads as follows