Johannes Megapolensis
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Flushing Remonstrance |
Johannes Megapolensis
The minister is widely known as the author of A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government, first published from his letters by friends in 1644 in North Holland, and being translated into English in 1792 and printed in Philadelphia. He is also known for having assisted the French missionary, Father Isaac Jogues escape from the Mohawk Indians in the 1643. The priest had been serving as a missionary to the Hurons and had been taken captive by the Mohawk. After his tenure in Rensselaerwyck, Megapolensis went to New Amsterdam intending to return to Holland. Governor Peter Stuyvesant prevailed upon him to remain and undertake the duties of a pastor. In 1664, he was instrumental in facilitating a smooth transition to British rule.
Early life
Megapolensis was born in Koendyck (Koedijk,[3] Netherlands in 1603.[4] His father, also named Johannes, was a Protestant dominie or minister in Egmont-aan-Zee. The father Latinized the family name from the original van Mecelenburg.[5] (Another source suggests the original name was von Grootstede.)[4] However, from his translations of the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, A.J.F. van Laer suggests that Magapolensis was not the son, but the nephew of Johannes, Sr. and married the daughter of the latter's wife by her first marriage.[3] Megapolensis studied Catholicism at Cologne]] but became disenchanted with its particular precepts and customs. At the objection of his family he became a Protestant clergyman at an early age. For this he was disinherited.[4][6]
In 1630 the younger Megapolensis married Mathilde Willems in the Netherlands.[7] The couple had at least four children born there in the next twelve years. Their son Johannes became a surgeon working at Fort Orange.[8] In 1654, their daughter Hillegond married Cornelis van Ruyven, secretary to the colonial Council.
In 1629 Megapolensis entered the ministry and commenced conducting services at
Rensselaerwyck
In 1642 Megapolensis was hired by
At first the family lived in
For five years Megapolensis held services in the patroon's mill house on the east side of the Hudson River.[b] In 1647 he was afforded the use of an old warehouse on the west side of the river, which had been donated by the West India Company, which put his services closer to the general population of Rensselaerswyck Manor and Fort Orange. The warehouse was converted to include a pulpit, nine pews and special benches for the Elders and Deacons. For nearly seven years Megapolensis and his successor Gideon Schaats held Sunday services in the warehouse, but with the spring floods coming from the river every year, the foundation began to give way and the warehouse eventually had to be abandoned.[12]
During this period, Megapolensis served as missionary to the Mohawk people, and is believed to be the first Protestant missionary to Native Americans in North America.[5] The Mohawk territory was west of Fort Orange in the Mohawk River valley but extending up to the St. Lawrence River and down to the Delaware River, with other territories used for hunting. During the summer trading season, Mohawks frequently spent the night in Dutch houses, including the Dominie's.[17]
He became fluent in the Mohawk language[c] and recorded many details about the Mohawk people and their culture.[4] He described their language as being very difficult to learn. In his endeavor to learn the language and compile a vocabulary he frequently asked the Mohawk how they referred to various things and ideas.[19] From his letters home, his friends in the Netherlands compiled A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government, publishing it in North Holland in 1644. This was apparently done without his knowledge or permission. The account was reprinted by Joost Hartgers in 1651 in the Netherlands. The first English translation by Ebenezer Hazard was printed by him in 1792 in Philadelphia, with a revised translation by Brodhead in 1857. Another version translated by A. Clinton Crowell of Brown University was printed in 1909 by Jameson in the United States.[4]
In his letters, Megapolensis had compared the land of Rensselaerwyck to that of Germany and described the rich abundance of game, birds and other wildlife. Megapolensis described Mohawk dress, marriage customs and culture. He characterized the Mohawk ritual torture of captives as cruel, but noted that they seldom killed people in their culture, despite their lack of laws and authorities as he understood them. He contrasted that with the much higher rate of murders in his home country of the Netherlands.[20]
Megapolensis is widely noted for assisting French Catholic missionary Isaac Jogues escape captivity, when he was being held and tortured by the Mohawk Indians. They were hostile to Jogues because of his association with the French, who had made attacks against Mohawk villages.[21] In the autumn of 1642, Jogues was captured by the Mohawk and brought to their village of Ossernenon and subjected to prolonged torture. Hearing of this, Arent van Curler, commissary of Rensselaerwyck, visited the "first castle" of the Mohawks and attempted to ransom Jogues, but without success as the Mohawk were not inclined to release him at that time. About a year later, the Mohawk were persuaded to bring the priest with them when they came to Beverwijck to trade. Once there, Van Curler helped Jogues to escape. The dominie helped conceal the priest until a deal could be reached and the Frenchman put on a ship to take him downriver. Pastor Megapolensis befriended Jogues and accompanied him to New Amsterdam, where Jogues stayed with the pastor while waiting for a ship to take him to France.[22][d] In a letter of September 28, 1658, to the Classis of Amsterdam, Megapolensis wrote of the gruesome ordeal that had befallen Jogues, and another French missionary, François-Joseph Bressani, at the hands of the Mohawk. He also describes other encounters involving relations between the French and the Mohawk.[24]
New Amsterdam
At the conclusion of his term of ministry at Fort Orange, Megapolensis planned to return to Holland, but was asked by
On March 18, 1655, he sent a letter to the Classis at Amsterdam, noting, “Last summer some Jews came here from Holland in order to trade... they came several times to my house, weeping and bemoaning their misery. If I directed them to the Jewish merchants, they said they would not even lend them a few stivers”. Megapolensis further argued that the followers of the “unrighteous Mammon” aimed to get possession of Christian property and to outdo other merchants by drawing all trade toward themselves. These “godless rascals, who are of no benefit to the country, but look at everything for their own profit, may be sent away from here.”[29]
After Stuyvesant's departure in July from his failed mission in the West Indies he returned to Manhattan and found a fleet and crews totaling seven-hundred men waiting for him in the harbor, where he promptly received orders to move on the Swedes at Fort Casimir and other objectives in the disputed territory along the Delaware River. On August 25 Megapolensis arranged for a day of fasting and prayer for the successful completion of the coming expedition. On the first Sunday of September, Megapolensis held services at Fort Amsterdam, just prior to the departure of the fleet on its mission. Megapolensis accompanied Peter Stuyvesant, who was commander of a fleet. Upon the arrival of the fleet the modest garrison at Fort Casimir immediately discovered that it was no match against Stuyvesant's force. Subsequently a flag of truce was sent to the fort with demands of its surrender, which after some protest, occurred without any bloodshed, after which the commander of the fort boarded Stuyvesant's ship and signed the terms of surrender. On the following Sunday Megapolensis held services for the crews and any Swede who wished to attend.[30][31]
By 1656 there was a growing number of Swedish and German
In 1664 after serving at
Staying in New York, as it was renamed by the English, the minister helped establish the rights of the Reformed Church under English rule. His role in the surrender may have had repercussions, as on two separate occasions years later, prominent Dutch citizens testified under oath to his loyalty to the West India Company.[45] Some accounts say that Megapolensis returned to Holland a few years later in 1668, where he died.[5] According to Thomas DeWitt, it was his son Samuel, associate pastor at New Amsterdam, who returned to Holland.[47]
Writing
- Megapolensis, Johannes Jr. (1644). Brodhead, John Romeyn (ed.). A Short Sketch of the Mohawk Indians in New Netherland (PDF).
Notes
- ^ Megapolensis is a Hellenized rendition of Mekelenburg.[1][2]
- ^ During the 17th and 18th centuries the Hudson River was commonly referred to as the North River, while the Delaware River was referred to as the South River.[16]
- ^ The Indians possessed a written language but it was in the form of hieroglyphics.[18]
- ^ The following year French Jesuit François-Joseph Bressani, also captured and severely tortured by Mohawk Indians, was ransomed by Dutch traders.[23]
Citations
- ^ Benham, 1917, p. 86
- ^ Rink, 1994, v. 75, n. 3, p. 248
- ^ a b N.Y. Education Department, Annual Report, 1907, p. 629
- ^ a b c d e Snow & Starna, 1996, p. 38
- ^ a b c d Wilson & Fiske (eds.), 1888, vol. IV, pp. 286-287
- ^ Corwin, 1926, p. 362
- ^ N.Y. Education Department, Annual Report, 1907, p. 157 note
- ^ Fort Orange Records, 1654-1679, 2009, p. 34
- ^ Corwin, 1926, pp. 362-363
- ^ Meuwese, 2011, p. 257
- ^ a b van der Hout, 2018, p. 44
- ^ a b Rink,1994, p. 248
- ^ Zwierlein, 1910, p. 76
- ^ Frijhoff, 2007, p. 460
- ^ Van Rensselaer, 1909, v. 1, p. 202, v. 1, p. 202
- ^ Fiske, 1890, v. 1, pp. 105-106
- ^ Meuwese, 2011, p. 262
- ^ Wilson, 1892, v. 1, p. 54
- ^ van der Sijs, 2009, p. 287
- ^ Snow, Starna & Ghering, 1996, p. 46
- ^ a b Collections of the New York Historical Society, 1857, v. viii, p. 142
- ^ Denner, 2011
- ^ Zwierlein, 1910, pp.283-284
- ^ Jameson, 1909, pp. 403-405
- ^ Jacobs, 2009, p. 147
- ^ Deed, Verplanck to Megapolensis, 1656, p.71
- ^ Zwierlein, 1910, p. 90
- ^ Jacobs, 2009, p. 164
- ^ Hershkowitz, Leo (2005). "By Chance or Choice: Jews in New Amsterdam 1654" (PDF). American Jewish Archives. 57: 2.
- ^ Lamb & Harrison, 1877, pp. 175-176
- ^ Jones, 1903, p. 111
- ^ Fiske, 1899, v.1, pp.231-232
- ^ a b Carney, 2004, pp. 311
- ^ a b Brodhead, 1853, v.1, p.645
- ^ Corwin, 1926, p. 367
- ^ Croswell, 1902, v.xiv, p. 404
- ^ Pouliot, 1966, p. 462
- ^ Van Rensselaer, 1909, v. 1, p. 202
- ^ Brodhead, 1853, v. 1, p. 373
- ^ New York Historical Society, collections, 1857, p. 142
- ^ Brodhead, 1853, v. 1, p. 508
- ^ Wilson, 1893, v.1, p.270
- ^ Collections of the NY Historical Society, 1841, p. 391
- ^ Shorto, 2004, p. 298
- ^ a b Balmer, 2002, p.6
- ^ Rommney, 2014, p. 291
- ^ Sprague (ed.), 1857, v. ix, p. 1
Bibliography
- Balmer, Randall Herbert (2002). A Perfect Babel of Confusion: Dutch Religion and English Culture in the Middle Colonies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19515-2654.
- Benham, W. Hamilton (1917). "The Churches and Clergy of Colonial New York". Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association. 16. Fenimore Art Museum: 82–102. JSTOR 42889556.
- Brodhead, John Romeyn (1853). History of the state of New York. Vol. I. Harper & Brothers.
- Carney, Thomas E. (Fall 2004). "A Tradition to Live By: New York Religious History, 1624–1740". New York History. 85 (4). Fenimore Art Museum: 301–330. JSTOR 23187346.
- Corwin, Charles E. (October 1926). "The First Ministers in the Middle Colonies". Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930). 12 (6). Presbyterian Historical Society: 346–384. JSTOR 23323607.
- Senate, E. Croswell (1902). Ecclesiastical Records, 'Documents of the Senate of the State of New York. Vol. 14. New York (State). Legislature.
- Denner, Diana (July 6, 2011). New interpretive sign to adorn Schuyler Flatts Park, Troy Record.
- Fiske, John (1899). The Dutch and Quaker colonies in America. Vol. I. Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
- Frijhoff, Willem (2007). Fulfilling God's Mission: The Two Worlds of Dominie Everardus Bogardus, 1607-1647. BRILL. ISBN 978-9-00416-2112.
- Jacobs, Jaap (2009). The colony of New Netherland : a Dutch settlement in seventeenth-century America. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. p. 147. OCLC 320799054.
- Jameson, John Franklin (1909). Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664. Vol. VIII. Charles Scribner Sons.
- Jones, Frederick Robertson; Thorpe, Francis Newton (1903). "The Dutch Under English Rule". In Lee, Guy Carleton (ed.). The History of North America. New York: G. Barrie & sons. p. 167.
Willem Hendrick.
- Lamb, Martha Joanna; Burton, Harrison (1877). History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. New York: A.S. Barnes.
- Meuwese, Mark (2011). 'Brothers in Arms, Partners in Trade. Brill. ISBN 978-9-00421-5160.
- Pouliot, Léon (1966). Brown, George W.; Trudel, Marcel (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I. University of Toronto Press.
- Rink, Oliver A. (July 1994). "Private Interest and Godly Gain: The West India Company and the Dutch Reformed Church in New Netherland, 1624–1664". New York History. 75 (3). Fenimore Art Museum: 245–264. JSTOR 23182041.
- ISBN 978-1-40007-8677.
- ISBN 978-0-81560-4105.
- William Buell Sprague, ed. (1857). Johannes Megapolensis, 'Annals of the American Pulpit. Vol. IX. Robert Carter & Brothers.
- van den Hout, J. (2018). Adriaen van der Donck: A Dutch Rebel in Seventeenth-Century America. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-43846-9225.
- van der Sijs, Nicoline (2009). CHAPTER 3. Dutch influence on North American Indian languages. Amsterdam University Press. JSTOR j.ctt45kf9d.7.
Chapter 3, from Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages
- Van Rensselaer, Schuyler (1909). History of the city of New York in the seventeenth century. Vol. I. The Macmillan Company.
- Romney, Susanah Shaw (2014). New Netherland Connections. UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-46961-4250.
- Wilson, James Grant (1892–1893). The memorial history of the city of New York, from its first settlement to the year 1892. Vol. I. New York History Co.
- Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1888). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. IV. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
- Zwierlein, Frederick James (1910). Religion in New Netherland : a history of the development of the religious conditions in the province of New Netherland, 1623-1664. Rochester, N.Y.: John P. Smith Printing Company.
- New-York Historical Society (1857). Collections of the New York Historical Society, VIII, part I. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 142.
- State of New York Education Department (April 6, 1908). 90th Annual Report 1907 v.2 supplement 7. Albany: University of The State of New York. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
- Deed, Abraham Verplanck to Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, Jan.21, 1656. Vol. 46. The John Watts De Peyster Publication Fund Series. 1914.
- Collections of the New York Historical Society. Vol. 1. New York: H. Ludwig. 1841.
External links
- Johann Megapolensis, Jr. "A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians," 1644, in Dean R. Snow, Charles T. Gehring, William A. Starna, ed., In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives about a Native People], Syracuse University Press, 1996, 405 pages