Inquisition, Anabaptists Burned at Stake, 1554

David van der Leyen (or Verleyen), an Anabaptist martyr, was executed with Levina Ghyselius at Ghent, on February 14, 1554 by burning at the stake. The first information we have about these two martyrs is found in the Liedtboecxken van den Offer des Heeren (1562) where they are celebrated in a song (No. 7) beginning: Ghy Christen al te samen, bereyt u tot ten strijt (You Christians all together, prepare for the conflict). It is also included by Wolkan. Another song about David and Levina is found in the Nieu Liedtboecxken (1562 and later editions): Och Heere ic moet u claghen (Oh Lord, I must complain to Thee), also found in Wackernagel. The later accounts including that of the Martyrs Mirror, are prose adaptations of these songs. The Liedtboecxken song says that David was a young man who firmly confessed his faith and steadfastly suffered all vexations both of body and mind, and that after the fire had gone out, David was miraculously still alive, was stabbed with a long fork. Implements of torture lie on the ground; spectators are on the left and a church is in the background; religious officials observe the proceedings

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1550s 1554 Anabaptist Burned Cruel Cruelty Execute Executed Executing Heretics Infamous Inhumane Inhumanity Inquisition Leyen Marry Method Notorious Persecute Persecuted Persecuting Persecution Prejudice Punish Punishing Racist Reformation Repression Sixteenth Stake Suffering Torturer Torturing

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