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Hendrik (de) Naeldeman (Naeldemaker) was a Dutch Mennonite elder living at Franeker, Dutch province of Friesland; Karel Vos concluded that he was a tailor. He was one of the men involved in the dispute among the Dutch Mennonites in 1555 on the strict or lenient application of the ban (which was really a question of individual liberty versus obligation to the brotherhood). In opposition to Leenaert Bouwens, he advocated a triple warning before the use of the ban; in other words, he regarded the ban as a means of discipline. In Waterland, North Holland, Gillis van Aken forced the issue, and brethren in other places also were divided; but Menno Simons managed to preserve unity in Waterland by a visit to Waterland (1555) and a letter to the brotherhood in Franeker (1557), where the moderate wing was led by Naeldeman and Joriaen Heynsz. But when Leenaert Bouwens enforced the strict ban in Emden, and Heynsz and Naeldeman were put in the ban, the conflict arose again, also in Franeker. In 1557 Menno again attempted to bring about a reconciliation, and was at first apparently successful. But at the conference held in Harlingen Leenaert Bouwens and Dirk Philips carried the day with their strict interpretation of the ban, and unity was ended. Naeldeman wrote a letter to Menno, which deprived Menno of his last hope of reconciliation. The moderate "Franekeraars," commonly known as the Waterlanders, whose position was shared by the South German Anabaptists, went their own way. In 1620 there was still a group of Mennonites in Middelburg known as the (Hendrick) Naeldemans-volk.

[edit] Bibliography


Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1894): 32, 36, 39, 41-44.


Kühler, Wilhelmus Johannes. Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Doopsgezinden in de Zestiende Eeuw. Haarlem: H.D. Tjeenk Willink, 1932: 316 f., 319-324.

Vos, Karel. Menno Simons, 1496 1561 : zijn leven en werken en zijne reformatorische denkbeelden. Leiden: Boekhandel en drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1914: 132, 135, 137, 191, 257.

Author(s) Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published 1956

[edit] Cite This Article

MLA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Hendrik Naeldeman (16th century)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 5 Dec 2016.

APA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1956). Hendrik Naeldeman (16th century). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 5 December 2016, from

