Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Plett Foundation

split in 1620. He must therefore have
been appealing to many Old-Flemish
members.
Alongside de Hont served Philips
van Casele as elder. His roots also lay
in Belgium, namely Ghent. By profession
he was a merchant. Already
a preacher in 1606, perhaps even as
early as 1602, he was mentioned as
an elder after the breakup in 1620.
With de Hont, he wrote an important
letter in 1622, in which they expressed
their faith and rejected the desire of
the Borstentasters to reunite.
Another Haarlem elder was Jan
Winne. He probably became elder
after the death of de Hont and van
Casele. He is mentioned as elder
before 1640. Besides serving his
own congregation, he also aided the
small Leiden congregation. 16 Reynier
Saskers originated from Leeuwarden
and was a merchant by profession. Already
a deacon in 1637, he was probably
ordained elder in the 1640s. 17
Unfortunately there is a gap in our
knowledge about the Haarlem congregation
between 1660 and 1696.
Jan Gerritsz Rose, a cloth maker,
was born at Haarlem and resided
at Leiden. Of Flemish descent, Jan
Rose is mentioned as a preacher in
1626 and probably became elder
around 1632. Together with Lourens
Willems, he tried to persuade his
fellow believers not to unite with the
Flemish. Rose served the Leiden congregation
until his death in September
1661. 18 This congregation was also called “Jan
Rosensvolk.”
After a rough period during the 1630s when
the congregation had to re-obtain its meeting
house, the Amsterdam congregation “bij de
Zes Kruikjes” was first led by Claes Gysberts
de Veer and later by Pieter Cornelis Haring. De
Veer had strong family ties with the Flemish
congregation at Danzig. As a merchant he was
active in the Baltic Sea trade. Haring lived at the
Anjeliersgracht in Amsterdam. He is included in
a tax list of the year 1631, a sign of some wealth.
Haring has to be mentioned because in 1644 he
wrote a book on the subject of non-affiliate marriages.
19 He was elder of the Amsterdam church
from 1632 until after 1665.
After the death of the above-mentioned
Hendrick Ghuyten, the Rotterdam congregation
elected its own elder: Jacob Ariens van
Blenckvliet. This grain merchant was ordained
as elder shortly after 1624 when he was already
an old man. Van Blenckvliet originated from the
small village of Zuidland on the isle of Voorne,
just below Rotterdam. Van Blenckvliet was
one of the elders – together with Lucas Philips
and Jacques Verbeeck – who ordained Adriaen
Cornelis as elder of the Dordrecht congregation.
During van Blenckvliet’s service, the Rotterdam
congregation split. 20
The Rotterdam congregation was deprived
of its elder sometime at the end of the thirties.
38 - Preservings No. 25, December 2005
Mennonite Church in Rotterdam. (MHC 360.57)
Alongside van Blenckvliet the elderly Joost Verschuyre
de Oude had served as co-elder, but he
died soon after. Some of his children remained
loyal to the congregation of their father, but others
left the Old-Flemish congregation. One even
became mayor of the city of Rotterdam. 21
Both Adriaan Leenderts van Blenckvliet and
Michiel Heymans later served the Rotterdam
congregation as elder. The first was a relative
of elder Jacob Ariens van Blenckvliet, who
was mentioned earlier, and like him a grain
merchant. Adriaan Leenderts, a ship owner,
was elected deacon in the thirties and elder in
1662. 22
Michiel Heymans was a sailcloth maker
by profession and lived at neighbouring Delfshaven.
His descendants used ‘Van der Haven’
as last name. 23
About the elders of the congregations in
the province of Overijssel during this period,
virtually nothing is known. This is strange
since the congregations of Blokzijl, Giethoorn
and Zuidveen must have been strong and large
congregations.
Another influential elder has to be mentioned.
Jan de Buyser originated from Haarlem,
where he was born in 1591. Later on he
moved to the German port of Hamburg-Altona
where he was a merchant. He was married to
Maicken Joos Cousijn, who was of Flemish
origin. De Buyser served as elder of the Old-
Flemish congregation from before
1635 until 1670. He was the author
of Christelijck Huysboeck, published
in Haarlem in 1643 - a book widely
read among the Old-Flemish. The
Christelijck Huysboeck consisted
of a confession, a catechism and
important treatises and letters. De
Buyser made use of earlier works by
Menno Simons, Dirk Philips, Hans
van Dantzich, Harmen Timmerman
and others. He used Vincent de
Hont’s works extensively. Shortly
after de Buyser’s death, his Hamburg
congregation ceased to exist. In the
period 1669-72, a number of Hauskäufern,
among them some of the
de Buyser family, joined the united
Flemish congregation. 24
One person with great influence,
although not an elder was Louwerens
Willems. He was a deacon and perhaps
also preacher of the Old-Flemish
congregations at Alkmaar (1621-
26) and at Rotterdam (1631-35). A
hosier by profession, he wrote several
books during the ongoing struggles in
the Rotterdam congregation, just before
the appearance of the Dordrecht
Confession. 25 As such he acted as the
voice of those Old-Flemish that were
unwilling to unite with the Flemish.
Kühler characterized Willems as
overzealous, but this does not do
him justice. By designating him in
this way, Kühler clearly sides with
the United Flemish. Although the
Old-Flemish lost the fight, Willems
served as their Samson.
Elders at the turn of the century and in the
18th century
At the end of the 17th century – probably
as early as 1694 – the Amsterdam congregation
was served by elder Adriaan van Gammeren. He
was married to Hendrina van Greuningen. They
had a linen shop at Noordzijde Voorburgwal,
close to the meetinghouse of the Old-Flemish
at the Oudezijds Voorburgwal. (Nowadays it is
close to the red-light district of Amsterdam).
Van Gammeren not only served his, but also
the Rotterdam congregation. When he died in
1725, both congregations wrote letters to Danzig,
asking for a replacement from the east. As
already noted, Danzig replied in the same year
by sending Dirk Jans to Amsterdam. Jans served
the congregation until 1733, when he returned to
his place of birth. From then on the congregation
was mostly served by elders of the neighbouring
town of Haarlem.
In 1756 the Amsterdam congregation
obtained Pieter Boudewijns from Haarlem as
their elder. Boudewijns had retired a few years
before, but while living at Haarlem, served the
Amsterdam congregation until his death in 1761.
After him Pieter Jans van Dijk was elected elder
on March 29th, 1761. He had been a preacher
since 1754. He was married to Pietertje Bootsman
of Giethoorn. Because he forgot to mention