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

sometimes action taken by authorities in Königsberg,
or by hostile guilds in Danzig, led Dutch
Mennonites to intervene through diplomatic
channels. When the king in Prussia ordered the
expulsion of Mennonites in 1732, Dutch Mennonites
not only approached the States-General
directly but also persuaded bürgermeisters and
city councils to join efforts to assist Mennonites
threatened with expulsion as well as those actually
expelled. 44 Governments of Dutch provinces
joined the effort to halt Prussian persecution of
Mennonites. It is significant to note that the Prussian
king did withdraw his order of expulsion of
the Mennonites.
Similarly, when in the mid-18 th century
Danzig guilds pressured the Danzig City Council
to impose tighter restrictions on Mennonite
craftsmen and merchants, Dutch Mennonites
responded with an appeal to charters of privileges
and a vigorous defense of the principle of free
trade. 45 Such actions indicated that Mennonites
in the Netherlands had remained well informed
about the political and economic situation of their
fellow-believers in Royal Prussia.
During the 18 th century, however, the situation
became more complex, for the king of Saxony
had been elected king of Poland, and the Dutch
Mennonites had to direct their requests to the
king in Dresden. In one such instance, Dutch
Mennonites offered to send representatives to
Dresden to present their concerns to the king. 46
Both Saxon kings, August II the Strong, and
August III, who reigned during almost all of
the first three quarters of the 18 th century, were
determined to strengthen royal power in Danzig
and the rest of Royal Prussia. In Danzig, their
strategy involved weakening the power of the
political elite, who were the most ardent defenders
of Danzig’s traditionally large measure of
autonomy. Conversely, the kings endeavored to
support the guilds. In 1750, August III rejected
the position of the City Council, which supported
the long-established Mennonite liberties, and approved
the petition of the guilds. There would be
no special consideration of Mennonite concerns;
instead, the “Hollanders,” should not have rights
equal to those of the citizens of Danzig, since
they did not accept as many responsibilities. 47
In gratitude, the guilds erected a monument to
the king. 48
City champions of the old order tried to alert
the citizenry to the danger of allowing royal
authority to erode such long-established city
freedoms. Ironically, they appealed to the Dutch
model of resisting the Spanish Hapsburgs during
the Dutch War for Independence. By now,
however, the champions of royal absolutism and
corrosive nationalism were already plotting the
dismemberment of not only Royal Prussia, but
of the entire Polish state. In the cauldron of rival
nationalisms surrounding Poland, there was little
room for the traditions of relative autonomy and
local freedom. Like other members of the populace
in Royal Prussia, Mennonites found that the
somewhat disorganized and inefficient structures
of the Polish state were being replaced by a determined
Prussian authoritarianism, and in this new
world, long-established ties to the Netherlands
would not offer much promise.
Endnotes
1 Royal Prussia was under the Polish crown. Sometimes
it was also called Polish Prussia, to distinguish it from East, or
Ducal Prussia. The term “West Prussia” came into use after
the first partition, when most of Royal Prussia was seized by
Frederick II.
2 Elizabeth Harder-Gersdorff, “Lübeck, Danzig und Riga.
Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Handelskonjunktur im Ostseeraum
am Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts,” Hansische Geschichtsblätter,
96, (1978), 24.
3 Ibid., 121. See also Aksel Christensen, Dutch Trade to
the Baltic About 1600 (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1941), 405.
4 Joost van den Vondel, Gijsbrecht van Aemstel, trans.
by Kristiaan P. Aercke (Ottawa: Carleton University, 1991),
53-120).
5 It is remarkable that Vondel’s biographer, G. H. de Wilde
could write in 1867 that this drama had been performed every
year in Amsterdam since Vondel wrote it (G. H. de Wilde,
Gysbrecht van Aemstel [Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1867], v).
6 Archiwum Pa stwowe w Gda sku (APGd), 358/132
(Gda sk State Archives), translated by the author.
7 Erich Göttner, “Predigt. . . 31 Juli 1937, Danzig Mennonitenkirche,”
3. Sippentag in der Mennonitenkirche zu
Danzig (1937), 154.
8 “Orloff int groote Marienburgsche Werder, 2 Martin
1677,...ande werde dienaren...tot Amsterdam,” Gemeente
Archief, Amsterdam (GAA), A1552; see also de Hoop Scheffer,
J.G. , Inventaris der archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde
Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam, Amsterdam,
1883-1884, I, 291.
9 From the church in Danzig to the church “bij het Lam”
in Amsterdam (9 March 1677), GAA, PA 1553; from the church
in the Great Werder to the church in Amsterdam (24 November
1677), PA 1554; circular from the church “bij het Lam” to the
churches of the Doopsgezinde in the Netherlands (24 November
1678), GAA, PA 1560.
10 Letter from the “kerkeraad bij het Lam” stating that the
congregation “bij de Zon” is also requested to respond to the
need (30 January 1680), GAA, PA 1566.
11 Pieter van Rickstel, Elbing, to the church in Amsterdam
(26 May 1709), GAA PA 1569.
12 Letter from the Dutch Mennonite Commission to “oudste”
(Elder) Hendrick Donner (6 May 1788), GAA, PA 1744.
13 Letter from the Commission in the Netherlands to
David Penner, Jacob Bestevader, Jan van Hoek and Lodewijk
Rump in Danzig (24 May 1726), GAA, PA 1572; see the
reply from Jan van Hoek et al. to Danzig (22 June 1726),
GAA, PA 1573.
14 Letter from four congregations urging the Waterlander
and the “High German” churches to resolve their differences
(15 July 1615), GAA PB 2626.
15 Letter from Jacob Kinn in Danzig to Galenus Abrahams
in Amsterdam (7 August 1696), GAA, PB 2630.
16 Letters from the Danzig Mennonites asking that two
men, baptized as infants but now wishing to join the Mennonites,
be baptized in Amsterdam so that the conflict with Danzig
statutes might be avoided (5 July 1730), GAA, PB 2636.
17 Georg Cuny, Danzigs Kunst und Kultur im 16. Und 17.
Jahrhundert, (Frankfurt/Main: Keller, 1910), 25. The extent to
which they were Mennonite is uncertain.
18 Edmund Cie lak and CzesB aw Biernat, tr. Bozenna
Blaim and George Hyde, History of Gda sk (Gda sk:
Wydawnicto Morskie, 1988), 164.
19 Cuny, Danzigs Kunst und Kultur, 51.
20 Paul Simson, Geschichte der Stadt Danzig bis 1626
(Danzig: Kafemann, 1924), II, 457.
21 Cuny, Kunst und Kultur, 56; Reinhold Curicke, Der
Stadt Dantzig Historische Beschreibung (Amsterdam und
Dantzigk: Johan und Gillis Jansson, 1687), 348, 349.
22 Maria Bogucka, “Danzig an der Wende zur Neuzeit:
von der aktiven Handelsstadt zum Stapel und Produktionszentrum,”
Hansische Geschichtsblätter, (1984), 93.
23 APGd., 300R/Vv 29, 177-198.
24 APGd, 300, R/vol. 5, folios 311, 13b.
25 Bibliotheka Polskiej Akademii Nauk w Gda sku
(BPANGd), Gda sk, MS Ortmann, folio 34a, 53.
26 Gottfried Lengnich, Ius Publicum Civitatis Gedanensis,
oder der Stadt Danzig Verfassung und Rechte (Danzig,
1769), 557.
27 APGd, 300, 10/82, folios 22ff., 40-41a.
28 Olfert Dapper, Historische Beschryving der Stadt Amsterdam
(Amsterdam, 1663); see also Thorsten Sellin, Pioneering
in Penology: The Amsterdam Houses of Correction in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania, 1944); Curicke, 173; A. Hallema, “Wat was
eens in Dantzig. . . Amsterdamsch?” Nieuwe Rotterdamsche
Courant (2 September 1939), 3.
29 Letter from Danzig members requesting Dutch assistance
(4 July 1739), GAA, PB 2643.
30 Copy of a letter from the Dutch Mennonites, meeting
in de Zon, to the church in Danzig (May 1726), GAA, PB
2632; see also the Mennonite Encyclopedia, IV, “Periwig
Dispute,” 146, 147.
31 Extract from Danzig Senate minutes (11 September
1739), GAA, PB 2643.
32 Letter from twenty-one members in Danzig requesting
speedy action ( October 1739, GAA, PB 2647).
33 Letter from the church council in Danzig (13 July
1740), GAA, PB 2660.
34 Simon Hart, Geschrift en Getal. Een keuze uit de
demografisch-, economisch- ensociaal-historische studien
op grond von Amsterdamse en Zaanse archivalia, 1600-1800
(Dortrecht, 1976), 170.
35 F. Dekker, Voortrekkers van oud Nederland (Den Haag,
Boucher, 1938), 31.
36 Christoph Hartknoch, Preussische Kirchen-Historia
(Franckfurt am Mayn: Beckenstein, 1686), 717.
37 H. G. Mannhardt, Die Danziger Mennonitengemeinde
(John & Rosenberg, 1919).
38 “Bezoekreis van Hendrik Berents Hulshoff aan de
Doopsgezinde Gemeenten der Oude Vlamingen in Pruisen
en Polen in 1719,” edited by H. Ch. Hulshoff, Bijdragen en
Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, LIX (1938),
32-82. The original is in the Mennonite Archives, Library of
the University of Amsterdam.
39 Bezoekreis, 52.
40 Ibid., 64.
41 Ibid., 65.
42 Hendrick Donner, “Chronik,” APGd, 358/301, 18.
The dispute centered on rebaptism of someone who had been
baptized as an infant. Donner declared that “die Taufe der
wichigste Punct unserer Vereinigung wäre auch noch bey allen
unseren Gemeinen in Holland….”
43 See, for example, the letter on behalf of persecuted
Swiss Mennonites, sent from the city authorities in Rotterdam
to the government of Bern, and at the urging of the Mennonite
church in Rotterdam (19 February 1660; GAA, PB, 1746); the
letter from the Amsterdam congregation “bij het Lam,” with a
similar request to the Dutch government (23 September 1687),
GAA, PB, 1747; another letter from the Dutch States-General to
the government in Bern (15 March 1710), GAA, PB, 1759.
44 Letter from Pieter Adriannsz. Houttuyn from Hoorn to
Teunis Blok of Amsterdam reporting that Mennonite preachers
have received the support of local burgermeisters in urging the
States-General to request that Prussian authorities cease their
persecution of the Mennonites (19 April 1732), GAA, PB, 1787.
Similar developments are described in various other letters, such
as one from the council of the Rotterdam church, noting that
the city council is urging Prussian authorities to change their
policy ( 20 April 1732), GAA, PB, 1788. Churches in Middelburg,
Utrecht and others joined these efforts, as did various
local government bodies.
45 Dutch Mennonite request to the States-General (September
1750), GAA, PB, 1828.
46 Letter of C. van Gemert, The Hague, to Dutch Ambassador
van Calkoen, Dresden (14 August 1751), GAA,
PB, 1846.
47 (15 October 1751), GAA, PB, 1849.
48 Karin Friedrich, The Other Prussia (Cambridge University
Press, 1999), 99.
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