Martyrs Mirror 978DIRK ANOOT AND WILLEM DE ZAGER, IN THE YEAR 1569

When the Duke of Alba tyrannized with great violence against the Gospel, as Antiochus against the law, II Macc. 7 , there were brought prisoners into Ypres, in Flanders, in the year 1569, one Dirk Anoot, of Westvleteren, and one named Willem, a woodsawyer, who, as they could in no wise be drawn from the truth by tribulation, fear, or any suffering inflicted upon them, were finally condemned and sentenced by the fire, and were then brought into the marketplace, before the city hall, with a stick fastened in their mouth, that they should not speak. There each was placed at a stake and burned. Thus they, as those who did not love their life, but delivered it up for the Gospel, offered up their bodies as a burnt sacrifice unto God, their Lord.