He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about poor Brother Milan … After spending more than fifty years in the monastery, the monk had been denied the dignity of having his skull laid in the charnel house intact.
The Egyptian police officer who wrote up the interview on an old-fashioned typewriter had looked delightedly up at De Haan, obviously pleased at having been able to wrap the case up so soon.
‘The sun does strange things to people here,’ he’d said. ‘We will inform the gentleman’s family in America. We don’t have the resources to go looking for his body. The terrain is dangerous and mostly inaccessible. Perhaps he’ll be found one day if his body is not eaten by animals. But if he’s in an area that the animals cannot reach, then …’
‘Then what?’ De Haan had asked.
‘Then he will become a mummy,’ the officer had said. He had wound the report out of the typewriter, pounded various official stamps onto the paper, and signed it in a conspicuously elaborate hand. ‘Case closed,’ he’d said with evident satisfaction.
‘We wish you a safe and pleasant journey home,’ he’d said to Peter afterwards, like a tour guide bidding farewell to his group after a wonderful day trip. ‘We hope to see you again in our beautiful country.’
Peter had shaken his hand.
The next day, Peter had taken a direct flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to Amsterdam Schiphol airport where he was met by Spežamor and her daughter Agapé. De Haan had told no one but Spežamor about his return.
The young girl had been holding an enormous helium Dora the Explorer balloon with the word WELKOM printed on it, although it was probably more of a gift for herself than a welcome-home surprise for De Haan.
Rijsbergen wondered if he would ever unearth all of the details in this case.
It had begun with the brutal murder of Coen Zoutman, followed soon afterwards by the equally senseless death of Yona Falaina. They appeared to be connected to two earlier murders in Jerusalem and two more that followed in Boston. Supposedly, there was an obscure relationship between the Pilgrims and the Freemasons that Rijsbergen didn’t fully understand. Apparently, all would become clear after the publication of a document that a researcher called Piet van Vliet had found in the Leiden Heritage Organisation’s archives.
Rijsbergen had a strong suspicion that De Haan and Spežamor still had unresolved issues to work through. They might have been sitting next to each other on the sofa, but she had barely spoken, and they had seemed to be trying very carefully to avoid touching each other. Somehow, Fay’s manner gave Rijsbergen the feeling that she was burdened with a deep secret, as if she needed to tell Peter something but hadn’t yet found the right moment.
However, De Haan’s last words to him had sounded hopeful.
‘When I walked into the garden here,’ De Haan had said, as he finished telling Rijsbergen and De Kooij his story, ‘and I was back in our little paradise again … That’s when I really knew: I’m home.’
In a corner of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Church of the Resurrection where it is said that Christ was both crucified and buried, a young man of no more than thirty sits on a simple wooden chair with his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. He moves his hand now and then to a place on his chest that still smarts a little. When the Worshipful Master had taken him under his wing, he had been a young boy, all alone in the world, and the man had become like a father to him. He had entrusted the ancient texts to him. And now the devil had been defeated and had met his end in the desert. His plan had been thwarted on Mount Horeb …
They’d had enough time together for him to learn the five books …
But only now that the danger has truly passed has he dared to put the sign on his chest.
He opens his eyes, eyes so bright that light seems to shine from them. His lips move as he murmurs the sacred words, quietly enough that no one nearby will hear …
This is the secret knowledge, the oral teachings handed down by Moses, a Son of Light, to guide Man on his eis-odus, his journey inward, and to bring him into the safe haven whence he should never have departed, the promised land, his true home.
We must find our way back to the garden.
Fragment 8 – The End of the Pilgrims in Leiden
After they had waved off the Speedwell, the remaining Pilgrims returned to their homes. Many of them hoped that they would be able to emigrate to America one day, and as we read in the manuscript, some were eventually successful. In the early 1620s, around a hundred members of the Leiden Pilgrim congregation made it to the New World. They included the wives, children and other relatives of those left behind, and new families too. Among them was Thomas Willet, a man who rose to great heights in America, first as Peter Stuyvesant’s assistant, and then as the first English mayor of New York.
John Robinson would never reach the American colony. He stayed in Leiden at the request of the remnant congregation. It was agreed that he would go to America when the group’s affairs were all in order, and he was no longer needed in Leiden. It was not to be. Robinson died in 1625 after a short illness and was buried in the Pieterskerk. Only his son, Isaac, eventually went to America in 1632.
Robinson maintained regular contact with the congregation in the New World. His letters provided them with useful advice and religious guidance, and he remained the Pilgrims’ spiritual leader in both Leiden and America until his death.
After he died, it became very clear how important he had been for the group. Robinson had been the glue that held the community together, and without him, the Leiden congregation quickly fell apart. Its members joined the English Church and the Dutch Reformed Church. They gave up their English customs and even their English names and integrated with the people of Leiden.
Sooner or later, everyone who reads the manuscript gets the impression that they are not being told the whole story. That is why it is so very disappointing that the last few pages appear to be missing. In the last fragment, the author hints at the imminent revelation of certain secrets, for example, the role of the ‘teacher’ and his ‘pupil’. I have set these words in quotation marks because we cannot know their roles for certain, but it does seem likely that the younger one was being initiated or schooled in some knowledge.
The larger group that stayed in Leiden was apparently at odds with the smaller group that set sail for America. At the time, a clash between two groups was often explained in religious terms. Disagreements were fought out as religious disputes, but often – as is also the case today – these were a smokescreen for something else, like a power struggle, access to resources, money …
The dissolution of the Leiden congregation and its eventual integration into the English Church or the Dutch Reformed Church seems, then, to be only half the story. We know from the historical record that the congregation suffered a gradual decline, but it tells us nothing about what the group’s leaders – including the teacher, his student and the people around them – might have done that was not detailed in their official history.
I cannot help feeling that secret knowledge, handed down from generation to generation, was somehow a factor in the split. It came to the Netherlands from England and then travelled across the ocean to America. The custodians of these secrets died centuries ago, but if they too passed them on, there may still be people among us who possess this knowledge today. What an exciting thought! Speculation about this – and now, of course, we are leaving the realm of strictly scientific methodology – is, in my opinion, one of the charms of historiography: reasoned theorising about what might be written between the lines. Perhaps it is just as well that we do not know the full truth, that we are, in a sense, looking through a glass darkly. Now our knowledge is still limited, but perhaps, we may one day know the full story.
All that remains now is to tell you what happened to John Robinson’s house after his death. De Engelse Poort or ‘English Gate’, as the house became known when the Pilgrims moved into the compound around it, fell into disrepair and s
eemed destined to come to a sad end. But the Walloon merchant Jean Pesijn left money in his will to build almshouses, and his wife, Marie de Lannoy, bought up the houses around the Engelse Poort for this purpose. Construction of the Jean Pesijnhofje began after her death in 1681. A stone set into the façade of the gatehouse reads: ON THIS SPOT LIVED, TAUGHT AND DIED J. ROBINSON 1611–1625.
Other traces of the Pilgrims’ time in Leiden can be found on, in and around the Pieterskerk. There is a memorial stone for John Robinson on the wall of the Pieterskerk opposite the Jean Pesijnhofje. A second memorial is located inside the church on the same wall, and there’s also an informative display about the Pilgrims.
On the corner of the William Brewstersteeg, a plaque above the archway leading to the Pieterskerk-Choorsteeg marks the site of the Pilgrim Press.
In the Beschuitsteeg near the Hooglandse Kerk, you’ll find the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, where the stories of the Pilgrims truly come to life.
Piet van Vliet
Acknowledgements
“Knock and the door will be opened to you.”
It’s great to see how willing people are to help when you approach them. For a writer it is easy to open doors: a request for answers to a particular question, permission to quote or a conversation over a cup of coffee. So many people have contributed to this book by offering up their time and knowledge. Maarten Dessing suggested back in 2016 during one of our countless film evenings, which always began in the café Van Engelen, that I do “something” about the Pilgrim Fathers in anticipation of the 400 year commemoration in 2020. André van Dokkum, who is starting to gain a permanent place in my words of thanks, was an engaged reader of the primeval version of this book all the way from Macau, and he offered countless suggestions about interesting Bible passages that were useful for this story. Of inestimable importance has once again been Lisanne Mathijssen, whose extremely sharp and inspiring editing chops away everything that is superfluous – like a kind of Michaelangelo from a piece of marble, so that the image underneath eventually comes to the fore. And of course Lidia Dumas, the dream editor-in-chief, who not only finds innumerable mistakes and flaws, but also always comes up with good alternatives.
This is also the place to express my gratitude to the other people at HarperCollins Holland: to Jan-Joris Keijzer, Miranda Mettes and Jacqueline de Jong. Their great confidence gives me the peace and quiet needed to be able to write. And, of course, to the tireless Annemieke Tetteroo, who literally drives around town and country to bring my books to men and women; to Marianne Prins, who maintains telephone contact with the bookshops; to the always alert Chantal Hattink, who sees opportunities to bring my work to public attention time and again; and to the creative Nanouk Meijer, who knows how to reach younger readers through social media.
And then, in more or less alphabetical order, I would like to thank the following people. Jeremy Bangs, initiator and director of the Leiden Pilgrims Fathers Museum, who gave me an extensive tour of his small but fine museum. Co Berendsen and Jeroen Deen of the Loge Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt no 40 of Freemasonry Grootsneek, who provided a video recording of a lecture on Chief Seattle. Annie Houston, the program officer of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, who during our visit to Boston and Plymouth, helped organise the logistics of several meetings. Executive director Michelle M. Pecoraro, who found time in her busy schedule to tell me extensively about the memorial year in the US and the significance of the arrival of the (Leiden) Pilgrims to America, drawing my attention to the ideas that the Pilgrims brought with them from the Netherlands, such as freedom of speech, religion and the press, civil marriage and the separation of church and state. Anita Walker, who I unfortuantely didn’t meet in person, but who took care of the tickets for Plimouth Plantation and the Pilgrim Hall Museum. Nancy Gardella, the executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, who was kind enough to pick me up from the ferry on Martha’s Vineyard and give me a whole tour of the island. Durwood Vanderhoop, an important and proud spokesman of the Wampanoag tribe, who showed me around the Aquinnah Cultural Center and told me about the significance of ‘2020’ for the Indian population: the Native Nations, in addition to the US, England and the Netherlands are in fact the fourth nation involved in this year of remembrance. Jan-Bart Gewald and Trudi Blomsma, who checked and improved the Afrikaans in Chapter 2. Annette ter Haar, the ‘Leiden Bridge Builder’ of the Technolab Leiden, who tries to make young people enthusiastic about nature and technology, but also has an eye for the alpha and gamma sciences. Like a real spider in the web, she brought me into contact with various people and organizations and helped me think about how my books could be used in an educational project. Mieke Heurneman, History and Education advisor at Landscape Heritage Utrecht, who gave me permission to quote extensively from their website www.entoen.nu/en/regiocanons about Arminius and Gomarus. Former detective, philatelist and city guide, Willem Hogendoorn, for his enthusiastic recommendations about which places related to Leiden Pilgrims should not be missing from my book, and for introducing me to the wonderful walk that brings 400-year-old history back to life.
Director of the Pieterskerk Leiden, Frieke Hurkmans, who I already described in this book as ‘an almost unstoppable speech waterfall, in which the new plans and ideas constantly tumbled over each other while talking’. Her love for Leiden and her enthusiasm for my books are heartwarming. Wouter Hollenga, who is my always responsive contact at the Pieterskerk. Annabel Junge, for generously granting me permisson to have my characters quote from her website: www.eeuwigheidvandeziel.nl. The Hague rabbi, Shmuel Katzman, who gave important information about the celebration of the seder meal, which was a scene unfortunately cut from the Prologue. Frank van Leeuwen of http://www.prokwadraat-groepswijzer.nl, who ensured that the walks designed by Sijbrand de Rooij (‘Petrus’, ‘Paulus’) and Willem van Hogendoorn (‘Pilgrims’) were available in both print and digital format. Mayor Henri Lenferink, who made his beautiful lecture, from the Diets celebration of the Historical Society of Oud-Leiden in the Hooglandse Kerk on Saturday, November 5, 2017, on the identity of Leiden available, and documents from this lecture can be found in Chapter 23. Nadia Mouaddab for the translation of some English fragments into flexible Dutch.
Marjolein Overmeer, Humanities editor of NEMO Kennislink, who gave permission to quote from the website about the significance of Thanksgiving as an important part of Dutch legacy. Michaël Roumen for the enthusiastic conversations we had about the Pilgrims, my book and its use during the Leiden memorial year. Tanneke Schoonheim of the Historical Society of Oud-Leiden, who is always willing to sort everything out for me immediately, from facing bricks to Pilgrim surnames. As an extension of that I would like to thank Hans de Sterke, who edited and sent me the beautiful photo of the facing brick ‘In t nieuwe lant’ by photographer Wilbert Devilee. Huub Pragt, who manages kemet.nl, which supplied me with all the information I needed about Aton and the Atonhymne. The small gem of a booklet, Voor de Grote Oversteek by Piet van Vliet, which describes the history of the Pilgrims in Leiden in a beautiful and compact way. This booklet forms the spine of my novel and I want to thank Van Vliet for his selfless and enthusiastic cooperation, and I hope that a possible reprint of Voor de Grote Oversteek will reach a large audience. Van Vliet’s book appears in the text as the "manuscript", which is supposedly found by him in the archives of Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken, but this so-called manuscript is of course entirely the result of my imagination.
I would like to thank journalist Rien van Vliet for his nice article in De Leydenaer about the discovery of the Pilgrims manuscript, as well as Annelies Spanhaak and Ariela Netiv of Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken for their cooperation on this article. Leo van Zanen, who pointed me to numerous important websites concerning the Pilgrim Fathers. I am grateful to the always hospitable Cees van Veelen and Jenneke van Reemst, who allowed me to stay in their beautiful farm in Gelderland again, and granted me undisturbed days for a week to write the second version of my book. And the Freemason
s of Leiden of course! Chris Beresford’s statement is that the Freemasons do not form a secret society, but they do have secrets. During the open evening in 2017 I spoke to him extensively, just like Gerlinde Vliegenthart, who was my very helpful contact. I would like to thank Ingrid de Bonth for the extremely interesting lecture she gave that same open evening, which supplied me with most of my current knowledge about Freemasonry, and large parts of which also ended up in the book.
And then of course Hamide, my rock and my castle, with whom I always find peace and quiet. To remain in the terms of Freemasonry: through her, slowly but surely the pure cubic material emerges from the rough, unprocessed stone. Finally, this book is dedicated to our lovely daughter Dünya.
Consulted literature
Armstrong, K. _ De Bijbel: De Biografie. Mets & Schilt, Amsterdam, 2007 _ Bangs, J. _ Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners. Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation. General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, 2009 _ Barthel, M. Wat Werkelijk in de Bijbel Staat: Een Nieuw Licht op het Boek der Boeken. Elsevier, Amsterdam/ Brussel, 1981 _ Bartlett, S._ De Geheimen van het Universum in 100 Symbolen. Librero, Kerkdriel, 2015 - Berents, D. _ Adam At Geen Appel. Uitgeverij Aspekt B.V., Soesterberg, 2016 _ Doane, T.W. _ Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions. Kessinger Publishing’s, Whitefish Montana, Reprint, 1882 _ Feiler, B. _ Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses. Perennial/ HarperCollins, New York, 2002 _ Finkelstein, I., N.A. Silberman _ De Bijbel als Mythe: Opgravingen Vertellen een Ander Verhaal. Den Haag, Uitgeverij Synthese, 2006 _ Freke, T., P. Gandy _ The Jesus Mysteries: Was the ‘‘Original Jesus’’ a Pagan God? Three Rivers Press, New York, 2001 _ Hart, M. ‘t _ Wie God Verlaat Heeft Niets te Vrezen. De Schrift Betwist. Amsterdam, Arbeiderspers,1997 - Hart, M. ‘t - De Bril van God. De Schrift Betwist II. Amsterdam, Arbeiderspers, 2002 _ Hilton, C. _ Mayflower: The Voyage That Changed the World. The History Press, Gloucestershire, 2005 _ Horst, P.W. van der _ Mozes, Plato, Jezus: Studies over de Wereld van het Vroege Christendom. Prometheus, Amsterdam, 2000 _ Hulspas, M. _ En de Zee Spleet in Tweeën: De Bronnen van de Bijbel Kritisch Onderzocht. Fontaine Uitgevers, ‘s Graveland, 2006 _ Kardux, J., E. van de Bilt _ Newcomers in an Old City. The American Pilgrims in Leiden 1609-1620. Serie: In den Houttuyn, Burgersdijk & Niermans, Leiden, 1998 _ Kirsch, J. _ De Ongehoorde Bijbel: De Betekenis van Schokkende Verhalen uit het Oude Testament. Servire Uitgevers, Utrecht, 1997 _ Kirsch, J. Mozes: Een Nieuwe Visie op de Grote Bijbelse Wetgever en Profeet. Becht, Haarlem, 2002 _ Kovacs, J. _ Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You’ve Never Been Told. Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 2008 _ Leeuwen, M. van _ Van Horen Zegen: Geschiedenis en Uitleg van de Bijbel. Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam, 2004 - Lenferink, H. _ Over de Identiteit van Leiden. Toespraak bij de Diësviering van de HVOL, 2017. Historische Vereniging Oud-Leiden, 2017 _ Morison, S.E. _ Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647 by William Bradford. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006 _ Raymondt, S. _ Mythen en Sagen van de Griekse Wereld. Haarlem, Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1982 _ Schaik, C. van, K. Michel _ Het Oerboek van de Mens: De Evolutie en de Bijbel. Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam, 2016 _ Seattle, L. Couvee _ Hoe Kun je de Lucht Bezitten? De Rede van Seattle. Jan van Arkel, Utrecht, 2018 _ Seltzer, R.M. _ Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History. Prentice Hall, Inc: New Jersey, 1980 _ Steiner M.L. _ Op Zoek Naar … De Gecompliceerde Relatie tussen Archeologie en de Bijbel. Uitgever MijnBestseller.nl 2016 _ Toorn, K. van der _ Wie Schreef de Bijbel? De Ontstaansgeschiedenis van het Oude Testament. Uitgeverij Ten Have, Kampen, 2009 _ Vliet, Piet van _ Voor de grote oversteek: De Pilgrims in Leiden. Serie: Leidse Verhalen, Leiden Promotie VVV, 2001.
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