# A Great Number Of Christians Called Waldenses, Burnt For The Faith, In Flanders, A. D. 1421.

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Now when the children of light, who confessed
the doctrine of the Waldenses, in the midst of the
darkness of popery,[199](/en/stories/mm-footnotes/part-14/#Footnote_199) began to lift up their hands
more and more, in the Flemish countries, and
to combat with the power of the word of God the
errors of the Roman church, and to reject principally
papal authority, the mass, transubstantiation,
pilgrimages, the invocation of saints, purgatory, infant
baptism, the swearing of oaths, revenge towards
enemies, etc., as we stated concerning the belief of
the Waldenses, in the account for the eleventh century;
the prince and king of darkness, through the
instrumentality of his satellites, laid his hands on
them, and ultimately brought the matter so far that
very many who would in no wise, neither for life nor
for death, apostatize, were condemned to be burnt
alive, which was also done with them; and thus they
endured the trial of their faith with great steadfastness,
in the fire, at Donau, in Flanders, in the year
1421. Wherefore the captain of the faith, Jesus
Christ, shall hereafter eternally crown them, as pious
champions, with the unfading crown of honor, according
to his promise: “Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation
2:10.

Of the sacrifice of these friends, mention is also
made in the second book of the History of the
Persecutions, p. 577, col. 4, where it says: “At
Donau, in Flanders, A. D. 1421, a great number
was discovered, who professed the doctrine of the
Waldenses, many of whom, remaining steadfast,
were burnt alive.” Also, Vignier, Hist. Eccl., in
the year 1421, ex Monstrelets.

Note.—Whether those of Dort, in Holland, were
also guilty at this time, of the blood of the saints,
we have not been able to ascertain; nevertheless, the
Lord severely chastised them in this year, 1421, so
that, through heavy floods, the city became an
island, and was deprived of seventy-two villages that
lay round about, and were all swallowed up in the
water.

Hence, the following inscription is found carved
on the outside of the Speuy Gate of said city, over
the arch, in blue stone:

“All land and water which here you see, were

Seventy-two parishes, chronicles state,

Swallowed by water’s resistless power;

Thousand four hundred seventy-one by date.”

This event is so generally known, and has been
described by so many authors, that I deem it unnecessary
to add anything by way of confirmation. A
sad thing for the place of our birth.

332

Note.—A. D. 1423.—At this time, writes P. J.
Twisck, Henry Gruenfelder was burnt for the truth,
in the city of Regensburg, in Germany; and shortly
after, in the same city, Henry Rathgeber. Chron.,
p. 787, col. 1, compared with Georg. Pac., cap. 11.

A. D. 1425.—About this time Peter Torea was
executed at Speyer, in Germany, and others in
Roman countries; because they confessed the truth
and opposed the Roman superstitions. Compare
the last mentioned Chron., p. 788, col. 2, with
Georg. Pac., cap. 11.

A. D. 1427.—At this time, Jerome Savonarolo,
of Ferrara, preached throughout Italy that the Pope
was the antichrist; for which he was burnt at Florence.
He wrote some meditations on the 51st and
80th psalms, in which he reproves the tyranny of
the Pope and his clergy, saying that they are the
boars and wild beasts of the field, which, according
to the words of David, have devoured and utterly
destroyed the Lord’s vineyard, and wholly subverted
the church of God. In the last mentioned
Chron., p. 762, col. 2, compared with Georg. Pac.,
cap. 11.



## Original source

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