A Letter From Ydse Gaukes, Skipper, Which He Wrote In Prison, At Deventer, To His Brother, And To The Friends, According To The Spirit.

Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, this I wish to all my dear brethren and sisters in the Lord, and especially to you, my brother according to the flesh, and your beloved wife, and my sister according to the Spirit. I wish you the true, penitent faith, that works by love.

Furthermore, dear friends, there were twelve of us brethren and sisters apprehended; there was also a new convert. We men were confined together eight days; then the women were examined, and they renounced the faith, especially your mother and her daughter. After that I was brought before the lords, when they asked me my name, and how long ago I had been baptized. I said: “About four years.” And I said: “How do you know that it was done?” Then they said: “We cannot be satisfied, but you must swear us an oath.” “No,” said I, “I must not swear.” They said: “We may.” I said: “We may not.” They said: “Where is it written?” I said: “Matt. 5.” They said that I had read it erroneously. Then one of them said to me: “What a lamb you are.” After that he said: “What a devil you are.” Then they asked, how many children my wife had. I said: “One of about nine weeks.” Then they asked: “How many did you have?” I said: “Six.” “And there is none of them baptized?” said they. “That is true, my lords,” I replied. Then they asked me concerning the man that had baptized me. I told them, that he was dead. And who had thus led me astray? I said: “My former life;” and that God had revealed it to me. They then wrote, that we had despised God’s Spirit. And they read it all out of a letter, as it seemed to me. I said to them: “It seems to me, that you know it well.” “We do,” said they. It seemed to me, that they wrote more than I had confessed. Then I said, that they should not write more than I had confessed. “We do not,” said they. And they had it read to me again. And I was satisfied with it. Then they asked me concerning my father and mother and sister, and how many brothers I had. I said: “Two.” And they asked me closely concerning their names. I said: “Pieter is the younger, and Symon.” “Where does he live?” said they. Then I told them: “He is of your belief.” “He is not,” said they. I said it was true. And I much excused them both, and said, that they were not so bad. I then entreated them, that they should not touch the innocent. Now they said: “Then the woman lied; we must have her brought up.” I said: “My lords, I did not say that I do not have more.” They said: “Have you more then?” I said: “One.” Then they interrogated me closely whether I did not have more. I replied: “No.” Then they wanted to know his name. I told it to them. Then they asked me, whether he was baptized. I told them, that they should ask him himself. Then they said: “You do not know how to speak before the court; how will you speak before God? We shall make you tell it.” I said: “The body is at your disposal.”

Then they let me go down, and brought up the men, one after the other, and they all freely confessed the faith. And we were put together again; then we rejoiced, that we were allowed to be together again; this continued several days. Then Anthonis was tortured, but remained valiant. After that they fetched me, and asked, whether I would name those whom I knew. I said: “No.” Then they said: “We shall make you tell it; but if you ask grace, we shall grant it you, as we did to the girl in the Norenburger street.” That was Mariken Backers, who said like Peter, that she did not know the man; this I did not want to do. Master Pouwels was standing there, and they said: “Do you know this man?” “I saw him yesterday,” said I. Then the commissary said: “Take him, Master Pouwels.” Then I went to the rope. The executioner entreated me much; “You are still a young man,” he said. I then divested myself of my upper garments, and the shirt was pulled off by the sleeves, and tied around the middle of my body, and I had to stand there naked, until the captain and the inspector came; and my hands were tied behind my back.

They then drew me up, about a foot from the ground, and in this manner left me suspended. I suffered great pain; I had intended not to open my mouth, but I cried out thrice, and then kept silence. This is only child’s play, they said, and letting me down again they placed me in a chair, and neither asked nor said anything to me. I had an iron bolt with two rings on my feet, and they tied three cannon balls to the rings. When they drew me up again, a Spaniard with a gold chain wanted to strike me in the face, but he could not. While thus suspended, I worked hard and drew one foot through the ring; then the whole weight was on one leg. They would have tied it again, but I forced it through. Then they all laughed, and I had great pain.

Then they placed me in a chair, and I named several persons whom I thought they knew, for 847 they could name others to me. Concerning Claes Opreyder I have no certainty; for one says this, and another that. I hope by the grace of the Lord to give my life for it; I say, by the grace of the Lord. My mind is still unchanged; I pray the Lord night and day, to give me strength. Do you also heartily pray the Lord for me; for the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. James 5:16.

Afterwards I had great conflict from my wife, because she frequently sent monks to me; but God helped me. After that I was brought above before the bishop and the pastor, and they talked much with me, that I must believe more than was written in the Gospel. “For,” said they, “how do you know that I am a man?” I said: “How should I not know that?” “Where is it written,” said they, “and in what chapter?” And they also asked how I knew that she was my wife; and other such sophistries, but little from the Scriptures.

Then I went back to my castle, in which I had to be confined. My mother also visited me once; I greatly pitied the woman. I said that God would comfort her. Then they said, it was the last day of grace. On the same day the bishop made an exhortation to the apostates. Then came the superior of the Franciscans and said: “I run down here for your sake, it was the last day of grace, but God’s grace is always open.” After the exhortation was over, they took me above, where stood my wife, crying bitterly; but I said: “We must not forsake God.” “You are not to forsake God,” said the bishop, and she wept much. But turning my heart to God, I thought, the suffering after this life would be too long. Katelijntgen was also greatly tortured, and drawn out and suspended with two irons to her legs. Then came the executioner, and said that though the woman had been drawn limb from limb, she would not have said one word; this was a joy for me to hear. Trijntgen, too, was subjected to many assaults, by comfort and promises, and by threats that she should be severely tortured. They compared her to a dog, who, they said, was better than she. The Lord helped her. But (as a warning) she was not prudent in speaking; for, the pastor speaking of the Old Testament, she would not listen to it, which was speaking foolishly on her part; but she wanted to adhere to the New Testament. This Gijsbert told me, and he says that he is innocent with regard to us, for there were read to him at least a hundred [names] from different places; and through him I obtained these [writing] materials. And, dear brother, see to my poor little orphans. I wish all the godfearing the fear of the Lord. Written in great fear and distress. I commend you to the Lord; take good heed to yourself.

Written by me, your dear brother, from prison, the twentieth day of our imprisonment.

Ydse Gaukes.