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

Affirming the Old Fundamentals
A Survey of the Danzig Old-Flemish Congregations in the Netherlands
Willem Stuve, Hellevoetsluis, The Netherlands
Dutch Mennonite historiography has paid
little attention to the Danzig Old-Flemish. Until
recently all eyes were focused on the Waterlanders.
Historians like De Hoop Scheffer, Kühler,
Van der Zijpp and Meihuizen judged them to
be the “true” Mennonites. 3 They considered the
Waterlanders to be more progressive, tolerant,
open minded, economically thriving and culturally
more advanced. 4
At the end of the 20th century this picture
changed. In 1988 Piet Visser showed that the
image that was given of the Waterlanders was
in some aspects incorrect: although
tolerant, their confessions were more
binding than earlier historians had
thought. 5 After him Zijlstra again altered
the image. According to Zijlstra,
in the year 1650 the Waterlanders
made up only 20% of the Dutch Mennonites,
whereas the United Flemish
topped with 60%. The remaining
20% went to the stricter groups of
Old-Frisian (Jan Jacobsgezinden),
Groninger Old-Flemish and Danzig
Old-Flemish. Zijlstra also agreed
with Visser on the binding nature
of the Waterlander confessions. In
the title of his book Zijlstra further
acknowledged two important focal
points in the study of the more strict
groups: “Of the true Gemeinde and
the old fundamentals.” 6 In researching
these groups, both the nature of the
Gemeinde and the old teachings have
to be taken in account.
Another Dutch historian with
interest in the Old-Flemish was
Sjouke Voolstra. In an article in 2002
he expressed as his opinion that he
considered the Old-Flemish to be the
true heirs of the Mennonite tradition,
a remark directly opposite to that
of the early liberal Dutch historians.
Voolstra stated that in investigating
early Mennonitism, the historian
should not use the Enlightenment as the means
of understanding their motives, but turn to the
groups on the right side of the spectrum. His
unfortunate early death in 2004 put a halt to his
desire to do more research in this direction. 7
Menno Simons
Sources concerning the Old-Flemish in the
Netherlands
The prime textbook of the Old-Flemish was
the Bible, as it was for all Mennonites. Though
they used books and wrote down what they
believed, most of what they taught was passed
on verbally. This lack of a written heritage was
caused by a number of factors. At first Mennonites
were persecuted in the Netherlands. After
the institution of the Dutch Republic they were
only tolerated. Persecution caused a certain fear
of the outside world. In addition, fear was also
instilled by the Mennonite view of the world and
the state as something other than the Gemeinde.
Their position as a silent people (die Stillen im
Lande) caused Mennonites to refrain from too
much interaction with the outside world. Even
their letters were mostly kept by private persons.
It was easier to lose important documents, than
in an organized church bureaucracy.
On the level of church records the search
for sources is disappointing. The only records
that survived are those of the Amsterdam congregation,
and they are from a young date. 8 It
is possible, though, to derive information from
the archives of other Mennonite congregations
and from public records (marriage and burial
records) in general.
Besides church records, correspondence
can also be used as a source. This is especially
true of the so-called inventory of De Hoop
Scheffer. This inventory contains the archive of
the Amsterdam Mennonite Church. Due to its
central role in the Dutch Mennonite world, the
Amsterdam church and its predecessors collected
important material pertaining to Mennonites in
and outside of the Netherlands. The archive of
the Amsterdam Mennonite Church has been divided
into two parts; one part at the Amsterdam
Municipal Archive and the other at the library
of the Amsterdam University. 9
The first important outside source on the
Old-Flemish is that of the German Lutheran
preacher Simeon Frederik Rues. On a tour
through the Netherlands in 1742, Rues did
research on the Mennonites. Later he published
a book on them in the German language. This
book was translated into Dutch in 1744 by the
Old-Frisian preacher Marten Schagen under the
title of Tegenwoordige Staet der Doopsgezinden
of Mennoniten in de Vereenigde Nederlanden
(Amsterdam, 1745). The first chapter of the book
dealt with the Old-Flemish. It gives an exact and
unbiased description of their church life. It also
provides a fine account of the way the
Old-Flemish conducted baptism and
communion. 10
Another outside source is that
of Foeke Sjoerds, Kort Vertoog van
den Staat. He wrote his book in
1771 and gave special attention to
the Old-Flemish in the introduction.
Though he dealt mostly with the
Groninger Old-Flemish, some important
remarks concerning the Danzig
Old-Flemish can also be found in
his treatise. 11 Enlightening is also a
letter sent to Marten Schagen. The
writer provides information about
the Old-Flemish congregations at
Haarlem and about several events in
the Flemish congregation. 12
In a broader sense the Christelijck
Huysboeck of Jan den Buyser is an
important source for our knowledge
of the Old-Flemish. It reveals
historical events, but it also gives
insight into the world of their ideas
and customs. Copies can be found
both in the library of the University
of Amsterdam and in libraries in the
United States. 13
Virtually the only inside source
about the congregational life of the
Danzig Old-Flemish is the so-called
Memoriaal of Eduard Simons Toens.
This son of the elder Simons Eduards
Toens described the events in his family and in
the congregations of Haarlem during the years
1735-1749. To a lesser extent, events from other
Old-Flemish congregations were also noted.
Fortunately for scholars, this unique source has
recently been published. 14
Pieter Simons Toens, brother of the above
mentioned Eduard, also wrote a biography. Especially
the first chapter is important, because it
deals with events in the Haarlem congregation at
the end of its existence. 15 After the downfall of
the Haarlem Old-Flemish congregation, Toens
joined the Flemish congregation. Later on he
moved to the province of Groningen where he
became involved in politics. At the end of his political
career he became one of the first substitute
chairmen of the Dutch States General in 1798.
A list of the confessions used by the Dutch
Preservings No. 25, December 2005 - 29