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Chapter V
In search of peace and spiritual comfort
The self-exiles find friendship, homes and jobs
in charming Leyden; however, a vengeful
King James continues to harass them.
Still in the Archives
in Leyden is a record of the official action taken on the
undated memorial, written in Dutch, that Rev. John Robinson
sent to the Leyden magistrates and that stated respectfully:
"Some members of the Christian Reformed religion, born in
the kingdom of Great Britain, to the number of 100 persons
or thereabouts, men and women, represent that they are desirous
of coming to live in this city by the 1st of May next; and
to have the freedom thereof in carrying on their trades, without
being a burden in the least to any one."
On Feb. 12, 1609, over the signature of one of their most
respected leaders, Jan van Hout, the Leyden magistrates hospitably
declared by way of response:
"They refuse no honest persons free ingress to come and have
their residence in this city, provided that such persons behave
themselves, and submit to the laws and ordinances; and therefore
the coming of the memorialists will be agreeable and welcome."
Not so to King James.
The Pilgrims had hardly bundled up their belongings and come
the canal route to Leyden--a passage westward toward Haarlem
and then southwest to Leyden--when the king's ambassador at
The Hague, only eight miles southwest of Leyden, informed
the Leyden magistrates of King James' displeasure.
In straight-faced, diplomatic manner, the magistrates sent
the ambassador copies of the correspondence with Rev. Robinson,
and claimed that they had acted "without having known, or
as yet knowing, that the petitioners had been banished from
England, or belonged to the sect of the Brownists...and request
that we may be excused by...His Majesty."
This reaction was in the well-known liberal spirit of van
Hout. The Leyden magistrates, of course--long accustomed to
furnishing haven to religious refugees and supporting the
reformist activity of their already famous university--well
understood the plight of the Pilgrims. Also, a 12-year truce
the Dutch signed with Spain in the spring of 1609 made the
subservience to the wishes of His Britannic Majesty less imperative.
King James, however, would be playing a strongly punitive
role against the Pilgrims during their stay in Leyden.
"Leyden...a fair and beautiful city and of a sweet situation,
but made more famous by the university wherewith it is adorned,
in which of late had been so many learned men." In those words
Bradford pinpointed the community's chief attractions, particularly
the renown of its professors. One of them, Johannes Polyander--who
would play an important part in the Pilgrims' dealings with
King James--in telling friends of his house beside one of
Leyden's numerous, Venice-like canals lined with linden trees,
concluded: "I am lodged in the most beautiful spot in the
world."
Leyden, like much of Holland, has the appearance of a low-lying
meadow save for an artificially raised hill at the point where
two branches of the Old Rhine, flowing in from the east, join
near the city center and flow as a broader stream westward
out of the city. On the hill, called the Burgh, was in early
times a fort and later a castle.
Quick employment was a critical need for the Pilgrim newcomers.
Leyden had long been a center of the fine-cloth trade. A lot
of the wool goods exported from England, enriching ports like
Boston [England], were manufactured into cloth in Leyden.
In those days, however, this did not mean that there were
immense mills. Manufacturing mostly meant work on handlooms
in individual houses, with the clothing entrepreneur furnishing
the working materials, and warehousing and trading the finished
products.
Most of the Pilgrims got jobs in the cloth industry, the greatest
number of weavers in wool, silk, linen, fustian or bombazine
(a form of silk with a special weave). Some were wool combers
and wool carders. Some made gloves, ribbon and twine. A few
were merchants. Some tried several jobs, from baker to printer.
"They fell to such trades and employments as they best could,"
said Bradford, "and at length they came to raise competent
and comfortable living, but with hard and continual labor."
At first their lodgings were in the newer part of Leyden,
a city which, like Amsterdam, was expanding as it prospered.
Costs were lowest there, in the northwest area of the community,
and so there the Pilgrims "pitched" (settled). Above all,
they valued peace, said Bradford, and "their spiritual comfort
above any other riches whatsoever.
"They continued many years in a comfortable condition, enjoying
much sweet and delightful society and spiritual comfort together
in the ways of God, under the able ministry and prudent government
of Mr. John Robinson and Mr. William Brewster who was an assistant
unto him in place of an Elder, unto which he was now called
and chosen by the church.
"Such was the true piety, the humble zeal and fervent
love of this people, whilst they thus lived together, towards
God and His ways, and the singleheartedness and sincere affection
one towards another, that they came as near the primitive
pattern of the first churches as any other church of these
later times have done...."
On May 5, 1611, Rev. Robinson and some members of the church,
including his brother-in-law, completed the purchase of a
house "formerly called Groene Port (Green Gate)," which had
a garden and a big vacant parcel of land in the rear. The
purchase was on behalf of the entire church, the price 8000
guilders (equal then to 1400 pounds [British pound of 1850
was equal to $5] ), with one-fourth down and an annual mortgage
payment of 500 guilders--a big debt.
Green Gate, which was used as a parsonage for Rev. Robinson
and his family, is the place most associated with the Pilgrim
stay in Leyden, though long since demolished. It was here
that the Pilgrim congregation met and held its divine services.
The house was located in the old center of Leyden on the south
side of the hof (square) surrounding the foremost landmark
in the city, St. Peter's Church, a former cathedral built
in the early thirteenth century.
The house faced Bell Alley [a 1660's Sabbatarian Christian
congregation was located in Bell Lane, London and was called
the Bell Lane Church of God, from which Steven Mumford and
his wife came from before they settled in Providence, Rhode
Island.] The entrance to the old cathedral was just across
the alley. A visitor leaving the house and turning left would
very quickly arrive at the linden-bordered canal outside Professor
Polyander's house, and by then crossing the bridge over the
canal, would arrive directly at the University of Leyden.
A right turn on leaving Green Gate, and a walk of similar
distance and another landmark, the Stadhuis (City Hall), an
ornate medieval structure.
The house, under lease when purchased, was not available for
another year. But the big parcel of land was accessible and
a carpenter member of the congregation, William Jepson, began
construction of 21 shall dwellings for members of the church.
Rev. Robinson moved into Green Gate on May 1, 1612. None of
the Pilgrims has left a description, but we can readily imagine
their thanksgiving service or their springtime gathering in
Green Gate's garden, with its well that was the watering place
for all those small dwellings built by Jepson. Bradford has
left a happy picture of Robinson and his flock:
"His love was great towards them; and his care was always
lent for their best good, both for soul and body. For besides
his singular abilities in divine things, wherein he excelled;
he was also very able to give directions in civil affairs,
and to forsee dangers and inconveniences: by which means he
was very helpful to their outward estates; and so was, every
way, as a common father unto them."
The many extant records at City Hall--public records of marriages,
citizenship, real estate, mortgages--furnish vivid glimpses
of Pilgrim life in Leyden.
Bradford became a citizen of Leyden in the year Rev. Robinson
took over Green Gate. Bradford, now of age, had come into
an inheritance from his family estate back in Austerfield.
He arranged to acquire a house of his own and the following
year walked with his witnesses up the magnificent staircase
of City Hall for his marriage to Dorothy May, 16-year-old
daughter of the elder of the Ancient Church in Amsterdam.
The groom was 23.
Bradford told how "many came unto them (the Pilgrims) from
divers parts of England; so as they grew to a great congregation."
In all, the congregation grew during the Pilgrims' time in
Leyden to some 300 parishioners. Word of the Pilgrims had
gone far beyond the "eminent places" near Scrooby--Boston,
Hull and Grimsby. Newcomers came from Amsterdam's Ancient
Church, from London, and from shires from Yorkshire to Kent. [Their persecution and steadfastness in endurance won many souls, which swelled their ranks.]
The new members included some of the most prominent of the
Pilgrims. There was Isaac Allerton, a London tailor, who would
become a merchant and magistrate in the New World. There were
three who would become deacons in Leyden: Robert Cushman,
a wool comber from Cantebury; Samuel Fuller, a maker of silk,
satin and serge from London; and John Carver, a Yorkshire
merchant and brother-in-law of Rev. Robinson. And there was
Edward Winslow, a London printer and a future colonial governor.
The names of all of these, save Carver, are among those on
the marriage rolls, which record nearly 50 Pilgrim weddings
in Leyden. Carver, who would be the first governor of the
Pilgrims in the New World, had married the older sister of
Rev. Robinson's wife before coming to Holland.
THERE WERE NEARLY
100 CHILDREN IN THE PILGRIM church during the time in Leyden--a
pleasant, family picture. They were contemporaries of the
artist Rembrandt, a child in Leyden in those years.
But there was a sad side, too. Childbirth was often fatal
in those times, and burial records tell mournful tales. The
saddest is of a friend of Brewster, Thomas Brewer, who within
two months lost a child, and then his wife and another son
in childbirth.
The Pilgrims' simple, steadfast, industrious way of
life brought "good acception" from their neighbors.
"Though many of them were poor," said Bradford, "yet there
was none so poor but that if they were known to be of that
congregation (Brownists), the Dutch, either bakers or others,
would trust them in any reasonable matter, when they wanted
money; because they had found by experience, how careful they
were to keep their word; and saw them so painful (painstaking)
and diligent in their callings. Yes, they would strive to
get their custom (business); and to employ them above others
in their work, for their honesty and diligence."
In back of the land where the Pilgrims built 21 small houses
was the former Veiled Nuns' Cloister. The Leyden magistrates
assigned the lower floor as the gathering place of the Reformed
Scotch Church. The broad-minded pastor of the Pilgrims, Rev.
Robinson, was friendly with the minister and members of this
church, and they would at times hold communion together.
The clergyman's scholarship, like his tolerance, attracted
many admirers, especially in the university. Soon after his
arrival in Leyden Rev. Robinson, like many other exiled clergy
on coming to Holland, published his opinions. He wrote a book
A Justification of Separation, that was a theological
defense of noncompliance with England's state church. He frequented
the library of the university, conveniently located in the
upper floor of the nearby Cloister.
In the fall of 1615 Rev. Robinson was admitted to the university
as a student of theology. Many advantages accompanied this
honor: Tax exemption, exemption from the service in the city
guard, and allowances of 10 gallons of wine every three months
and 126 gallons (half tun) of beer every month--very welcome
in an era without tea, coffee, soft drinks or a generally
safe water supply.
"Great troubles" that "greatly molested the whole state" arose
at this time, Bradford said, over what was called the Arminian
controversy--a hot religious dispute that attracted the heavy
hand of King James.
Jacobus Arminius, who up to his death was a professor of theology
at the university, had preached that individuals by their
own action can win salvation. This went against the rigid
teaching of the Calvinists that man's salavation was a matter
of heavenly predestination. The university had professors
on both sides of the controversy and Rev. Robinson attended
their rival lectures despite his heavy schedule of writing
"sundry books" and giving three lectures a week to his congregation.
King James went so far as to persuade the Dutch authorities
to influence the university to reject the candidate chosen
to succeed Prof. Arminius.
Rev. Robinson was brought into the controversy by his friend
Prof. Polyander, orthodox advocate of the Calvinist doctrine.
The clergyman, said Bradford, "was loath, being a stranger."
But the professor anxiously importuned Rev. Robinson with
the appeal that "such was the ability and nimbleness of the
adversary that the truth would suffer if he (Rev. Robinson)
did not help..."
The Pilgrim pastor ultimately delivered three university lectures
and won "much honor and respect." But the grateful university
refrained from heaping any "public favor" on Rev. Robinson
to avoid "giving offense to the state of England"--namely
King James.
In later developments in the controversy--developments that
gravely endangered the unity of Holland--King James got the
Dutch government to further twist the university's arm and
prevent the famous English divine, Rev. William Ames, from
joining the university's faculty.
Rev. Ames was a friend or tutor to all the clergy who would
fill the first pulpits in New England. Only his death prevented
him from coming to the New World in later years. But his teaching--his
use of direct, forceful language--shaped the sermons preached
to early New Englanders. And his book for long was the principal
theological text at the first training ground for New England
clergy, Harvard College.
Harsher tactics than those used against Rev. Ames
were employed by King James against William Brewster and his
underground press.
Brewster, who had suffered the "greatest loss" in the flight
from Scrooby to Holland, had financial difficulties that were
the more burdensome because of his age. In those early years
"he suffered much hardship," said Bradford. "[as] he had spent
the most of his means, having a great charge (expense) and
many children; and, in regard of his former breeding and course
of life, not so fit for many employments as others were; especially
such as were toilsome and laborious. But yet he ever bore
his condition with much cheerfulness and contentation (contentment)."
Brewter's schooling at Cambridge came to his aid. He could
speak Latin, the scholar's language. The University of Leyden
drew many students from Denmark and Germany. Brewster prepared
a book of rules, in the style of Latin grammar books, and
taught English in his dwelling. "Many gentlemen, both Danes
and Germans," said Bradford, "resorted to him, as they had
time from other studies; some of them being great men's sons."
BREWSTER'S GREATEST SOURCE OF HELP HOWEVER,
was Thomas Brewer, a wealthy gentleman from Kent who came
to live in Leyden, in a house he purchased in Bell Alley just
a door but one from Rev. Robinson's Green Gate. It was called
Green House.
Brewer, a man in his late 30s, about 10 years younger than
Brewster, was a member of the Reformed Scotch Church. He was
a Puritan zealous to spread the gospel. He made his house
a center for students, among them a doctor and a future minister
of his church. Brewer himself was enrolled in the University
of Leyden as a scholar in literature.
Chiefly with Brewer's financing, Brewster was able
late in 1616 to make arrangements for publishing from his
dwelling on Stink Alley, a narrow passageway off Choir Alley,
which runs from the main city street with its City Hall to
the square surrounding St. Peter's Church, entering the square
toward the rear of the church. Brewster's L-shaped, three-family
house also had an entrance on Choir Alley.
Brewster and his helpers had "employment enough,"
said Bradford; "and by reason of many books which would not
be allowed to be printed in England, they might have had more
than they could do."
Financial aid made it possible for Brewster, who was not a
printer himself, to secure a master printer from London, John
Reynolds. With Reynolds came an apprentice printer,
or assistant, who would become a most prominent Pilgrim. He
was Edward Winslow, then 21 years of age. They both
lived in Brewster's house, and, when they soon went with their
brides to be married at City Hall, members of the Brewster
family went as attendants.
Brewster's publications were far more religious than
commercial in nature. The first few books, in Latin and Dutch,
bore his name; the date, 1617; and the words In Vice Chorali,
which is the Latin translation of Choir Alley and the name
most often associated with Pilgrim activities. The fact that
none of the first three books was in English and that only
those bear the Brewster imprint indicates that they were intended
to provide later printing with protection.
Eventually some dozen-and-a-half books came from Choir Alley,
which would keep such a small enterprise very busy. Later
events, when the authorities raided the premises, suggest
that no press work was done there and that the type, when
set, was taken for printing to Dutch shops.
Significantly, Prof. Polyander wrote a preface to Brewster's
first book, a Latin commentary on religious proverbs. Brewster's
printing had other associations with the university, including
tracts on the Arminian controversy. One of his other
earliest books was a polemic by Rev. Ames, who was such a
personal source of irritation to King James even though the
clergyman was one of those Puritans who wanted to stay within
the state church.
Late in 1618, with Europe about to be plunged into the devastation
and agony of the Thirty Years War, and with Prince Maurice
of Orange eager for English assistance, King James was able
to get the Dutch ruler to issue an edict that prohibited
foreigners in Holland from printing books objectionable to
friendly foreign countries.
King James had reason. Earlier that year, in August,
he had called a church synod at Perth, the ancient capital
of Scotland, in an effort to impose a hierarchical structure
of bishops over the presbyters, the elders, of the Scottish
church.
The Scots were unalterably opposed. The historian of the Scottish
church, nonconforming David Calderwood, wrote a tract denouncing
the Perth Assembly. To get it printed, he fled to Holland,
and in a few months Perth Assembly, printed with type from
Brewster's fonts, appeared in Scotland. It had been smuggled
into Scotland concealed in wine vats. King James was incensed.
[PERTH ASSEMBLY denounced efforts by King James to impose
a hierarchy of bishops on the Scottish church.]
The captain of the guard in Edinburgh, on the king's orders,
searched the "booths and houses" of three booksellers there
but found neither Perth Assembly nor the author.
An innocent Scottish bookseller who happened to be in London
was seized and brought before the angry king. "The devil take
you away, both body and soul," raged King James to the kneeling
bookseller, "for you are none of my religion." As for his
Scottish subjects in general, the king added: "The devil rive
(split) their souls and bodies all in collops (slices), and
cast them into hell!" The bookseller was unjustly kept in
prison for three months.
In July 1619 His Majesty's ambassador at The Hague, Sir Dudley
Carleton, came across some copies of Perth Assembly
and some clues. He hurried off a message to King James' secretary
of state, Sir Robert Naunton, at Whitehall Palace: "I am informed
it is printed by a certain English Brownist of Leyden, as
are most of the Puritan books sent over, of late days, into
England." In view of the new Dutch edict, Carleton said that
he would complain to the Dutch authorities.
Five days later Carleton hustled off another note
to Naunton in which he said that the culprit was "one William
Brewster, a Brownist, who hath been, for some years, an inhabitant
and printer at Leyden; but is now within these three weeks...gone
back to dwell in London...where he may be found out and examined."
If Brewster was not the printer, advised Carleton, "he assuredly
knows both the printer and the author."
Carleton was right. Brewster was already in England and some
three months earlier--doubtless aware of the royal manhunt--had,
as Pilgrim Deacon Robert Cushman, then in England, wrote the
Pilgrims back in Leyden, gone "into the north" of England.
Brewster, sought by the authorities in three countries--England,
Scotland and Holland--had gone underground.
Now began something of a comedy of errors. The sleuths were
unquestionably misled by friends of Brewster, particularly
his friends at the University of Leyden, where his tutoring
of scholars had made him quite popular.
Naunton wrote Carleton that Brewster was not to be found in
London and that he must be somewhere in Holland. Carleton
wrote back that he was informed Brewster was not only not
in Leyden but unlikely to be there any time soon, "having
removed from thence both his family and goods..."
From King James came something more menacing for the Dutch,
eager for his good will. The king had commanded him, Naunton
said, to tell Carleton to "deal roundly with the State-General
(the Dutch central government) in his name, for the apprehension
of him, the said Brewster, as they tender (value) His Majesty's
friendship."
Carleton began to get hints that Brewster was in Leyden...no
maybe Amsterdam. He had searches made, keeping Naunton (and,
of course, the irritated king) informed.
Then, suddenly, Carleton triumphantly informed them that Brewster
had been taken in Leyden. But Carleton was quickly forced
to get off another message explaining that he was in error--an
error caused by a bailiff, "a dull, drunken fellow (who) took
one man for another."
The man under arrest was Brewster's benefactor, Thomas Brewer.
Brewer told the authorities that "his business heretofore
had been printing, or having printing done," but he blandly
explained that he had quit any printing the prior December
because of the edict making it illegal. He identified Brewster
as "his brother," but, by way of throwing the pursuers off
scent, said that Brewster was "in town at present, but sick."
The bailiff, now certainly sober, rechecked and reported that
Brewster "had already left" Leyden. Brewer, being "a member
of the university," was now transferred to the university
authorities. When the bailiff asked assistance from the university
in seizing the illegal printing supplies, university officials--most
likely with tongue in cheek--appointed Prof. Polyander, Brewster's
friend, to help him.
THEY FOUND "THE TYPES"
IN THE GARRET OF Brewster's former dwelling in Stink Alley.
They made a catalogue of the books found. Then the bailiff
had "the garret door nailed in two places, and the seal of
the said officer, impressed in green wax over the paper, is
placed upon the lock and the nails..."
Naunton wrote consolingly to Carleton:
"I am sorry that Brewster's person hath so escaped you;
but I hope Brewer will help you find him out."
Brewer did no such thing.
It was now, however, that Rev. Ames' desire for appointment
at the University of Leyden was wrecked. In going over the
catalogue of Brewster's books, Carleton noticed that Rev.
Ames "hath his hand in many of these." Carleton told Naunton
he therefore "desired the curators of the University of Leyden
not to admit him (Rev. Ames) to a place of public professor...until
he hath given His Majesty full satisfaction." That, given
the king's attitude, was impossible.
The king's request ran headlong into difficulties raised by
the university. Its officials were unwilling to remand Brewer,
and felt they should be the ones to try him. Carleton got
the Prince of Orange to speak personally with the university
rector. Finally Prof. Polyander arranged a compromise: Brewer
was to go "voluntarily" to England, with the assurance that
he could return to Holland within three months free of expenses,
and unharmed.
Carleton called Brewer "a professed Brownist" who had "mortgaged
and consumed a great part of his estate...through the reveries
(dreams) of his religion." Questioning of Brewer in London
proved futile. Naunton wrote Carleton that Brewer "did all
that a silly creature could to increase his (the king's) unsatisfaction."
Brewer was discharged. But he did not return to Holland.
A few years later Brewer, persecuted by the bishops for aiding
gatherings of nonconformists in Kent, was fined 1000 pounds
and imprisoned. He remained in King's Bench Prison for 14
years, until he was released by act of the Long Parliament,
on the eve of the civil war against King James' son and successor,
Charles I.
Brewster, in heading "into the north," may well have
avoided a much worse fate than Brewer's, with King James--called
"the wisest fool in Christendom" by the chief minister of
a French monarch--thirsting for his arrest.
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