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16091609–1620 · Leiden

The Pilgrims in Leiden

The brick Gothic Pieterskerk in Leiden, church of the Pilgrims' pastor John Robinson
Photo: Jan van Galen. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

English Separatists who had fled persecution settled in the Dutch university town of Leiden in 1609, working in its cloth trade under their pastor John Robinson while William Brewster printed banned religious tracts. Fearing renewed war with Spain and the loss of their English identity, part of the congregation sailed from Delfshaven in 1620 on the Speedwell, to join the Mayflower in England.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Leiden American Pilgrim MuseumA furnished early 17th-century house showing how the Pilgrims' generation lived.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: PieterskerkChurch where John Robinson is buried, with a memorial to the Pilgrims.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Pilgrim Fathers' Church, Delfshaven, RotterdamThe harbourside church where the emigrants prayed before sailing.Map ↗

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