Sentence of Death of Pieter Pieters Beckjen

Whereas Pieter Pieters, alias Beckjen, boatman, prisoner, with no thought for his soul and salvation, or for the obedience he owed to the Lord God and to his imperial majesty, has forsaken our mother, the holy church, and this from the time he came to understanding, even until now, has refused to go to the holy, worthy sacrament, despising and disregarding it, and has in twenty years been to confession only once, contrary to the ordinance of our mother, the holy church, and has moreover attended the reprobate and prohibited assemblies, or conventicles, of the Mennonists, and so on, and has himself, in his own boat, twice held conventicles of the aforesaid Mennonists, in which abominable and reprobated sect he persists so obstinately that, only recently before his arrest, his wife lying in childbed, he took the said child and carried it away, unwilling to tolerate or permit that the said child should be baptized according to the ceremonies of the ancient Roman Catholic and Apostolic church; in which he is still captive, persisting in it, and unwilling to return to our mother, the holy church, even though he has at various times, by various ecclesiastical persons, and also by the aldermen of this city, been admonished and urged to return and to leave this accursed sect, all of which are crimes against the divine and the secular majesty, as said before, which disturb the peace and the common good, and which ought therefore, for an example to others, not to go unpunished; therefore, my lords of the court, having seen the demand of my lord the bailiff, and also his information, the confession of the prisoner, together with the poor defense of the said prisoner, and having duly considered all of it, have condemned the aforesaid prisoner, as they by these presents do condemn him, to be executed with fire, according to the decrees of his majesty; and declare his entire property confiscated for the benefit of his majesty aforesaid, without prejudice to the privileges and all other interests of this city.

Done in court this 26th of February, in the year 1569, in the presence of all the judges, by the advice of all the burgomasters.

How the said person was condemned to the rack, and when this happened

He was condemned to the torture on the 17th of January, in the year 1569, and was examined and threatened with torture on the same day, and in the same place, as appears from the records of the confession.

Thus extracted from the book of criminal sentences, preserved in the archives of the city of Amsterdam.

N. N.