Geertruydt Jansdochter

Life

Geertruydt Jansdochter was also known as Geertruy. "Jansdochter," meaning "daughter of Jan," is a Dutch patronymic derived from her father's name. Her date and place of birth are unknown. The Dutch scholar K. Vos conjectured that she came from Witmarsum, the hometown of Menno Simons, and that she was the daughter of Herman Hoyer. The Mennonite encyclopedia GAMEO, however, regards this conjecture as unproven. Her sister Griet is known to have married Rein Edes.

Menno Simons was a Roman Catholic priest. In 1536 he renounced the priesthood and joined the Anabaptists, and in the same year he married Geertruydt. The wedding most likely took place in Groningen, where Menno was living quietly for a time. The couple had two daughters and a son, whose name is recorded as Jan.

The Anabaptists were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike, and she therefore lived as the wife of a fugitive preacher. In a work written in 1544, Menno stated that for half a year or even a whole year he had been unable to find a single hut where his "poor wife" and small children could live. In 1554 he wrote that he and his wife had been living as refugees for eighteen years. The phrase "sickly wife" appears several times in Menno's writings. A letter from 1553 includes greetings from his wife, but a letter from 1558 includes greetings only from his daughters. She is therefore presumed to have died sometime between those two dates.

Ministry and Contributions

No writings of her own and no particular office held by her have been preserved. Almost everything known about her comes from brief references in her husband's writings, so the record is very slight. Her historical significance lies in having endured persecution, poverty, and frequent relocation alongside an early leader of the Radical Reformation. Even while in hiding, Menno Simons cared for Anabaptist congregations in many regions and wrote extensively, and this work was carried out alongside her life at his side, keeping the household together. One of their daughters is said to have later passed on accounts of her father's life to Pieter Jansz Twisck, a teacher in Hoorn.

Assessment

The lives of the Reformers' wives have recently received renewed attention, and within this trend she too has attracted interest as a "figure hidden behind her husband." She is sometimes mentioned together with Luther's wife, Katharina von Bora, and Calvin's wife, Idelette de Bure. In Mennonite Brethren circles in the United States, a one-woman play was produced depicting the experience of the early Anabaptists from her perspective, and in the Netherlands a play featuring her as the main character has also been staged. Most of the narrative in such works, however, is filled in by imagination, and GAMEO accordingly points out that very little is actually known about her and her family.