Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, ….doc

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Ser., Vol. 71, No. 8. (1981), pp. 1-89. TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY HELD AT PHILADELPHIA FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE VOLUME 71, PART 8 1981 Godded with God: Hendrik Niclaes and His Family of Love JEAN DIETZ MOSS Associate Professor of English, The Catholic University of America PREFACE The Family of Love, the name by which the disciples of Hendrik Niclaes were known in England, must certainly pique the curiosity of almost anyone. The name together with the reputation for loose living and absurd theological pretensions that attached to the sect throughout its existence on the Continent and England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, makes it surprising that the group has never been studied in its entirety. Although the founder, Hendrik Niclaes, and his continental followers have been treated in a number of works, the English branch, which was far more vigorous and outlived its parent, has excited little attention. During their lifetime the Familists attracted considerable notice. They were branded as heretics on the Continent, and the writings of Niclaes were condemned by the Council of Trent. In England, Queen Elizabeth I published a proclamation ordering Niclaess books destroyed and his disciples speedily brought to repentance. Later, King James I warned his son about them, lumping them with Anabaptists and Puritans as an insidious danger to his realm. Yet this band of spiritual enthusiasts was first gathered together by Niclaes in Emden in East Frisia so that they, like their master, might attain that state of union with the deity he called being Godded with God. Believing that the Last Judgment was imminent and that he had been called to herald it, he urged all who were anxious about their souls to join the company of the elect. His disciples referred to themselves as the Husgesinnes der Lieften (the Household or Family of Love), and they attempted to live in imitation o