_Of the Brothers who were invested by John of Kempen, the first Prior_.
In the days of this venerable man our first Prior and Father, seven
Clerks and three Converts were invested, and the day and year of their
investiture are written below. Likewise he received the profession of
Brother Godefried of Kempen who was then about twenty years of age.
In the year of the Lord 1401, on the day after the Dispersion of the
Apostles, was invested Brother John Drick of the city of Steenwyck in the
diocese of Utrecht. He was before a priest, and Vicar of Steenwyck, and
after less than a year of probation he made his profession by licence of
the Prior of the Superior House, on the birthday of St. John the Apostle;
and he afterward was chosen Procurator.
In the same year, on the Feast day of St. Brixius, Bishop and Confessor,
was invested William, son of Henry (who was called William Coman) of
Amsterdam in the State of Holland. He was now twenty-three years of age
and had lived with the devout Brothers at Deventer, but Florentius
Radewin, before his death, sent him to Mount St. Agnes.
In the same year, on the day before the Feast of St. Catherine the
Virgin, was invested Brother Frederic, a Convert who was born in
Groninghen in the State of Frisia, and lived for a long while on Mount
St. Agnes with the first founders of the monastery.
In the year of the Lord 1402, on the Vigil of the Nativity of Christ, was
invested Brother Gerard, son of Tydeman, who was born in Wesep, a town in
Holland: he wrote divers works for the use of the monastery and for sale.
In the year of the Lord 1403, on the day of St. Pontianus the Martyr, was
invested Conrad, a Convert; he was a tailor and was born in the Countship
of Marck.
In the year of the Lord 1405, on the Festival of the Four Crowned
Martyrs, Brother Alardus, a priest, and John Benevolt of Groninghen were
alike invested: Alardus was forty-six years old and a Frisian by nation;
he had been Curate at Pilsum, which was his native place, and was a good
and devout man.
In the year of the Lord 1406, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, which fell
in that year on the day before the Feast of St. Barnabas, two brothers
that were Clerks, and one that was a Convert, were invested. These were
Thomas Hemerken of the city of Kempen in the diocese of Cologne, and own
brother to John of Kempen the first Prior. The father of these was
called John and their mother Gertrude. The other Clerk was called
Oetbert Wilde of Zwolle, whose father's name was Henry and his mother's
Margaret. The Convert was Arnold Droem of Utrecht who brought great
wealth to the monastery and was in charge of the Refectory.