Martyrs of Alkmaar



The Martyrs of Alkmaar (Martelaren van Alkmaar) were a group of 5 Dutch Catholic clerics, secular and religious, who were hanged on 24 June 1572 in the town of Alkmaar by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th-century religious wars—specifically, the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, which developed into the Eighty Years' War. These atrocities were inflicted by the Calvinist leader, Diederik Sonoy.

The 5 martyrs

 * 1) Daniël van Arendonk
 * 2) Hadrianus van Gouda
 * 3) Cornelis van Diest
 * 4) Johannes van Naarden
 * 5) Lodewijk Voets (also known by his Latin name Ludovicus Boethuis)

Engelbert Terburg, a lay brother of the Franciscan monastery outside Alkmaar, was transferred by Sonoy to the village of Ransdorp, near Amsterdam, where he was hanged on 11 August 1572 after being subjected to torture.