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Fenneke van Geelen of Deventer 309 Munster, which had been occupied roughly a year before by their co­ religionists. In Munster, as they believed was quite clear from the Scriptures, God's presence and will would soon become manifest. Many had gone to the "new Zion" from Deventer, attracted by "God's kingdom on earth," or travelled there regularly. Among them were Hylle, the widow of burgomaster Lubbert van Renssen, the noble joffer ter Poirten, the master apothecary Jorien, and burgomaster Johan van Winssem himself, all of whom were members of the Deventer patriciate. Johan van Geelen, the husband of Fenneke van Geelen, was the most famous of these emigres. It is striking­and this appears also in the court documents in which the later confessions of the arrested were recorded­that many members of distinguished families in the city belonged to the Anabaptists or were closely allied to them through family ties. The Deventer magistracy could not escape passing the death sentence upon the four arrested men. On Saturday, February 6, 1535, the four men were brought to the central market place, the Brink, and executed there with the sword. Fearing a revolt, and wishing to keep sympathizers at a distance, a cordon of four to five hundred armed men was posted around the place of execution. The four condemned Anabaptists remained firmly obstinate in their convictions until the end, and when the mass was celebrated before their execution, they scornfully turned their backs on the holy sacrament. They also wanted nothing to do with confession of their sins to a priest. Schenk's harsh position was illustrated again shortly thereafter with new arrests and similar sentences. On February 17, two more Anabaptists, Jacob van Herwerden and Jellys Gallam, were executed.17 Who were these people for whom their new faith was so important that they preferred to give up their lives publicly, rather than abjure even with a mere pro forma word or signature? Although we never will be able to give a satisfactory answer, it is possible to say something further regarding their place in the urban community and the role that they played in it. In order to shed further light on this, we will look more closely at Fenneke's life and then trace what is known of her. Fenneke, or Fenne van Gellen, Geel(en), Ghelen (there are differing spellings), was the wife of Jan or Johan van Geelen. Jan became a citizen of Deventer in 1525 for the customary fee of four stuivers. Herman van der Beeck stood surety for him. Herman was a respectable Deventer citizen of the lower nobility, who possessed a large house in the Roggestraat and a farmhouse on the other side of the street. Where Johan came from is not mentioned in the record. He probably came to know Fenne in Deventer and they were married there. A document dated February 10, 1534,18 stated that they possessed two farms or rural properties in the parish of Ommen, perhaps the region from which Jan originally came. Fenne and Jan van Geelen had at the least two children, a boy and a girl, as is apparent from a 310 Profiles of Anabaptist Women later testament. Shortly after the execution of the four men on the Brink, it appears that Fenne's life became irrevocably linked with that of her usually absent, and later self exiled, husband. In the beginning Jan could still move about unhindered in Deventer. On February 10, 1534, Ash Wednesday, he and Fenne had been able to look after their affairs personally in the presence of the magistrates, as the record from that date demonstrates. But after his activities became better known, and when he was promoted from being a messenger of Miinster to being the financier of King Jan van Leiden, and finally one of the Munsterite leaders, Jan's position in Deventer became untenable. His extensive circle of connections, both within and outside the city, made it possible for him to remain undiscovered by the investigators of the court in Brussels. We gain a vivid image of Jan's appearance thanks to a description distributed by the governess Maria of Hungary in order to aid in his arrest;19 a copy also was sent to the Deventer magistracy. Jan van Geelen­"who has a wife," as was emphatically reported to the magistracy, "dwelling inside your city"­is described as a medium­sized, solid man with a pale face. He had no beard, but wore...

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