These extracts are taken from De Geschiedenisse ende den doodt der vromer Martelaren [History and Death of Pious Martyrs] compiled by Adriaen van Haemstede, who served as the Reformed minister at Antwerp from 1556-59. His ministry was highly controversial because he insisted that he had a duty to preach the 'gospel' to all comers, not just to the small dedicated band of believers. His rash conduct provoked heated debate and precipitated a persecution which obliged him to flee Antwerp in 1559.
His martyrology, the first of its kind in Dutch, was printed shortly shortly after his flight at Emden in 1559. Religious persecution reached a new peak of ferocity around this time in England and France as well as the Low Countries which partly explains the clutch of martyrologies published at this time. Within the space of ten years John Foxe (1553 and 1563), the German Lutheran Rabus (1554),
Jean Crespin (1554), van Haemstede (1559) and an anonymous Dutch Anabaptist (1562) produced accounts of the sufferings endured and 'testimonies' from those put to death.
