UNIT
9: Het offer des Heeren (ca.
1562)
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Introduction
to the Text
In this Unit you will be
reading a modernised but otherwise un-adapted fragment from Het offer des Heeren (Sacrifice to the Lord), the first Dutch
Anabaptist martyr book. The work is a collection of
letters, written by Dutch Anabaptist martyrs to their family, of reports on
their imprisonment and death by eyewitnesses, and of hymns partly written by
the martyrs in prison and partly by others to describe their death. Both Catholics
and Protestants persecuted the Anabaptists, attempting both to halt the growth
of the movement and to bring about the salvation of the heretics (through
recantation). The Protestants were the first to execute Anabaptist believers:
Felix Manz became the first martyr in 1527. The Catholic authorities followed
suit: in the same year Michael Sattler was drowned for his Anabaptist beliefs.
It is estimated that thousands of people died: persecution, torture and
executions took place in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria,
Switzerland, and other parts of Europe between 1525 and 1660.
The first edition of Het offer des Heeren appeared in 1562 to be followed by ten more in the next forty years. The
book became the foundation of Tieleman Jansz van Braght's famous Het Bloedig Toneel der Doops-gesinde en Weereloose Christenen (The Bloody Theatre of Anabaptist and Defenceless Christians), more commonly known in
Dutch as the Martelaersspiegel (Martyr's Mirror), the first edition of which appeared in 1660. These two works are of
great importance to students of religious radicalism and violence, as they
provide much information on the persecution of sixteenth-century Anabaptists in
the
The fragment you will be
reading here is taken from a letter to Mayken Boosers by her children, thanking
her for the education she gave them.
Engraving by Jan Luyken of a burning in Amsterdam
From: van Braght, Tieleman Jansz, Martelaersspiegel (1685).
Text Fragment
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Wij zenden u, lieve moeder,
onze onderdanige en gunstige groeten. Wij bieden ons onderdanig tot u aan en
zijn u erg dankbaar voor de goede onderrichtingen, die u ons gegeven hebt. Wij
hopen ons daarnaar te schikken, en ook om vredig met elkaar te leven, in
navolging van het bevel dat u gegeven hebt. Wij bidden dagelijks voor u,
opdat God u het allerbeste zou geven en uw ziel zalig zou zijn. Wij vragen de
Heer dat hij u eeuwige rust zou verlenen in zijn rijk, waar ook wij hopen bij
u te komen. |
The
original text can be found in:
Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren at http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_off001offe01_01/.
Task 1: Vocabulary
Print this page or write
down the sentences below. Read the sentences, underline the words you do not
understand and write down the meaning of the words you already know.
- Wij zenden u, lieve
moeder, onze onderdanige en gunstige groeten.
- Wij bieden ons
onderdanig tot u aan en zijn u erg dankbaar voor de goede onderrichtingen,
die u ons gegeven hebt.
- Wij hopen ons
daarnaar te schikken, en ook om vredig met elkaar te leven, in navolging
van het bevel dat u gegeven hebt.
- Wij bidden dagelijks voor u, opdat
God u het allerbeste zou geven en uw ziel zalig zou zijn.
- Wij vragen de Heer dat hij u
eeuwige rust zou verlenen in zijn rijk, waar ook wij hopen bij u te komen.
Click here to compare your answers and to
find out the meaning of the words or phrases you do not understand.
Task 2: Grammar and Syntax
Now answer the following grammatical and syntactical
questions. Note that several questions will be asked on the conditional and on reflexive verbs.
Sentence 1:
- Find the indirect object.
- Lieve moeder says something more about another word in sentence 1 - which?
Sentence 2:
- Find a reflexive verb.
- Find the subject of the
relative clause.
Sentence 3:
- Find a reflexive verb.
- Identify an adverb.
- Which
word/words does daarnaar refer to?
- Identify the relative clause.
Sentence 4:
- Identify the conditional
tenses.
- Identify the
subjects of the subclause.
Sentence 5
- Identify the conditional tense.
- Which
word/words does waar refer back to?
After finishing the exercise you can check your answers on the Feedback Page.
Task 3: Word Forms and Classes
3a. You will now have to identify the head-words or stems of a
series of words from the text.
- lieve (sentence 1)
- groeten (sentence 1)
- onderrichtingen (sentence 2)
- gegeven (sentence 3)
After you have finished, go to the Feedback Page, where you will also find some annotations to this exercise.
3b. Next, please click here to test your knowledge of word classes
in Dutch.
Task 4: Text Comprehension
Now that you have worked your way through the first three Tasks of
this Unit, you should be able to answer the following questions on the content
of the text. Try to answer in Dutch using a sentence, a part of the sentence or
a word from the text.
- In which way
do the children of Mayken Boosers address their mother (e.g.
disrespectful, informal, etc)? And how do you know this (see sentence 1)?
You may answer this question in English.
- Why are they thanking their mother (see sentence 2)?
- Which order
did the mother give her children (see sentence 3)?
- How
frequently do they pray for their mother (see sentence 4)?
- Where
do they hope to see their mother again (see sentence 5)?
After finishing, look at the Feedback Page to
check your answers.
Task 5: Translation
Try to make a clear, comprehensive and fluent English translation
of the text. After finishing, click here to compare your translation.
Task 6: Glossary
Finally, you should try to memorise the following words from the text.
1. zenden: sturen [to
send; verb]
2. lief: aardig [sweet,
dear; adj]
3. de
moeder: een vrouw die een kind heeft [mother; noun]
4. de
groet: iets wat je zegt of doet wanneer je iemand ontmoet of wanneer je
weggaat [greeting; noun]
5. aanbieden: geven [to
offer; verb]
6. dankbaar: [grateful; adj]
7. geven: schenken [to
give; verb]
8. hopen: [to hope; verb]
9. elkaar: [each other; pron]
10. leven: <=> dood
zijn [to live; verb]
11. het
bevel: de opdracht [order; noun]
12. bidden: woorden tot God
richten [to pray; verb]
13. opdat: [in order to; conj]
14. eeuwig: voor altijd [eternal;
adj]
15. de
rust: de toestand waarin je niets doet [rest; noun]
16. het
rijk: het gebied waarover een leider heerst [kingdom, realm; noun]
17. bij: in de buurt van [near;
prep]
18. komen: een plaats
bereiken [to come; verb]
Next, please click here for a short vocabulary test.
Click here
to go to Unit 10. Click here for the home page.