Gillis de Gusseme, a Dutch Anabaptist martyr, was arrested at Merelbeke, Flanders, where he was taken prisoner with other Anabaptists, including Jacob (van) Curick of Cleve and Willem de Brouwer of Leiden, and imprisoned at Ghent. Both Jacob and Willem recanted and were beheaded at Merelbeke on 11 July 1551. Gillis and also Lysbeth Piersins remained steadfast. Gillis, Lysbeth, and Jacob Curick had been baptized by Gillis van Aken. Gillis was a native of Merelbeke. He and Lysbeth were sentenced to be executed there, but because the Council of Flanders feared that en route to Merelbeke they would address and stir up the people, they were burned at the stake on the Veerleplein at Ghent, on 21 July 1551. A song commemorating the death of Lysbeth and Gillis, "Alsmen schreef vijftien hondert jaren en een en fijftich daertoe voormaer," is found in the Liedtboecxken van den Offer des Heeren (1562), No. 8. Gillis's wife and his 17-year-old son Lievin were also examined, but, though it became evident that they were only halfhearted Catholics, they were obviously not Anabaptists and were set free.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doopsgesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: II, 105.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 502. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.
Verheyden, A. L. E. Het Gentsche Martyrologium (1530-1595). Brugge: De Tempel, 1946: 17, No. 32.
Wolkan, Rudolf. Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer. Berlin, 1903. Reprinted Nieuwkoop: B. De Graaf, 1965: 63.
|Author(s)||Nikolai van der Zijpp|
 Cite This Article
van der Zijpp, Nikolai. "Gillis de Gusseme (d. 1551)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 23 Jan 2017. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gillis_de_Gusseme_(d._1551)&oldid=129287.
van der Zijpp, Nikolai. (1956). Gillis de Gusseme (d. 1551). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 January 2017, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gillis_de_Gusseme_(d._1551)&oldid=129287.
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