The Dutch Church, Austin Friars (), is a

reformed church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

in the Broad Street Ward, in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Located on the site of the 13th-century Augustinian friary, the original building granted to Protestant refugees for their church services in 1550 was destroyed during the

London Blitz London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

. The present church was built between 1950 and 1954 and is a familiar landmark in the Broad Street Ward. With the founding of the church dating to 1550, it is the oldest

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

Protestant church in the world, and as such is known in The Netherlands as the mother church of all Dutch reformed churches.

History

Edward VI Granting Permission to John a Lasco

The original church was a monastic

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

known as the Austin Friars, London, a contraction of " Augustinian Friars", founded ''circa'' 1253 by Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford (d. 1275). The pretender

Perkin Warbeck Perkin Warbeck ( – 23 November 1499) was a pretender to the English throne claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, would ...

, executed on 23 November 1499 for claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger of the

Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the mystery of the fate of the deposed King Edward V of England and his younger brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, heirs to the throne of King Edward IV of England. The brothers were the only ...

, is buried in the church. The priory was dissolved in November 1538. The City of London attempted to buy the church of the friary from the Crown in 1539 and again in 1546 but was rebuffed. In 1550, London's community of "Germans and other strangers" was granted the use of the friary church's

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

;Holder, Nick (2017).
The Friaries of Medieval London: From Foundation to Dissolution
'' (Woodbridge: Boydell)'','' pp. 121, 126, 130; the rest of the church was used as a storehouse, with the monuments sold for £100 and the lead stripped from the roof. The choir, tower and transepts were demolished in 1600. The nave became the first official nonconformist chapel in England under its Polish-born superintendent John a Lasco (known in Poland as Jan Łaski) who had founded a preaching house for a group of Protestant refugees mainly from the Low Countries. The mostly Dutch and French speaking "strangers" were granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

on 24 July 1550 that allowed them to establish a Stranger Church and this was incorporated by

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

from

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

. Upon incorporation, the church was named the "Temple of the Lord Jesus" and had four pastors: two for Dutch and two for the French- Walloon who by the 1580s began using St Anthony's Chapel in Threadneedle Street. By 1570, the Dutch community was the largest group of expatriates in London, numbering 5,000 out of the 100,000 total population of the time. About half of the Dutch in London were Protestants who fled the Flemish Low Countries due to religious persecution. Others were skilled craftsman, including brewers, tile makers, weavers, artists, printers and engravers, who came to England for economic opportunities. Engraver Martin Droeshout, famous for his 1623 portrait of William Shakespeare, was among the Flemish Protestant emigrants who arrived in London. A century later, the arrival of William of Orange brought a second wave of Dutch emigrants to London. This second group included noblemen, bankers, courtiers, merchants, architects and artists.

20th century

In the night of 15–16 October 1940, just a decade before the Dutch Church celebrated its 400th anniversary, the medieval building was completely destroyed by German bombs. The church's collection of rare books including Dutch Bibles, atlases and encyclopedias had been moved out of London for safe-keeping one day before the bombing raid that destroyed the building. The church's manuscript collection and original charter are kept in the

London Metropolitan Archives The London Archives (previously known as the Greater London Record Office 1965–1997, and London Metropolitan Archives 1997–2024) is the principal local government archive repository for the Greater London area, including the City of London ...

. The church's library collection is currently being digitalised, but, by April 2021, the online catalogue remained unpublished. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 23 July 1950 by the 10-year-old Princess Irene of the Netherlands. The new church, built to the design of Arthur Bailey, was completed in 1954. The new building is a concrete box frame, externally clad in Portland stone. It features 1950s stained glass by the Dutch painter Max Nauta, Hugh Ray Easton and William Wilson. The church possesses detailed archives, and is a popular tourist attraction. The church was designated a Grade-II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

on 25 September 1998. In 2000, the church celebrated its 450th anniversary; Prof. Keetie E Sluyterman at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

published a book about the church and its history, ''De Kerk in de City''.

21st century

The church remains active today, with weekly Dutch-language church services, confirmation classes, and meetings for various groups. The church also does outreach to the Dutch community in London, including ministering to the elderly. The church is home to two other UK registered charities
The Netherlands Benevolent Society
(NBS) an
The Dutch Centre
On 24 April 2015, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands was honorary guest in the Dutch Church for a jubilee celebration to mark 150 years since the founding of the NBS. On the same day the Dutch Centre was officially opened by Laetitia van den Assum, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, Liesbeth Knook, Chairman of the Church Council and Paul Beiboer, General Manager of London branch of Rabobank. In April 2014, the minister of the church, Rev. Joost Röselaers, confirmed that the Dutch Church was able to perform weddings for same-sex couples.

Members of the Dutch Stranger Church

* Cornelis Bol, Flemish painter * Lucas de Heere, Flemish painter, elder of the church *

Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen Cornelis Janssens (born Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen, ; 14 October 1593 – 5 August 1661) was an Anglo-Dutch painter of portraits. Born of Dutch or Flemish parents who fled to London from Antwerp to escape religious persecution, Cornelis Jans ...

, painter * John a Lasco, first superintendent of the church * Marten Micron, first pastor of the church * Steven Mierdman, printer (pseudonym Niclaes van Oldenborch), joined the church in 1550 * George van Parris, surgeon, burned in London for heresy on 25 April 1551 *

Jan Utenhove Jan Utenhove (Ghent 1516 – London January 6, 1566) was a writer from the Low Countries best known for his translations into the Dutch language of the Psalms and the New Testament. Life Utenhove was born into a Flemish patrician family in Gh ...

, writer, elder of the church * Justus Velsius, dissident, joined the church in 1563

Notes

External links