Jan Claus

Who was Jan Claus?

Jan Claus was a leading Quaker in Amsterdam. He was trained as a gold- and silversmith specializing in enamel and worked for a while in Cologne. In 1663 he travelled to Amsterdam where business prospects were not good. He was however given a letter of recommendation for a Londen goldsmith J.C. Follet, also from Strasbourg, who was a member of the Society of Friends. It was with Follet that Claus joined the Quakers.

The conventicle act of 1664 which limited meetings in England led to the arrest of Jan Claus. He was convicted to be shipped to Jamaica. His ship with 54 Quakers had a slow time leaving and was hit by the plague killing all but 27. Then it was attacked by a Dutch privateer from the city of Hoorn. By 1666 Claus with 11 other Quakers found himself imprisoned in Hoorn. They were saved by Friends who had them released and brought to Amsterdam. It is not clear what happened to the others but Jan Claus, because of his command of both English and German, was pressed into staying with the Friends in Amsterdam.

It is known that Claus studied works by Johannes Tauler, Sebastian Franck and Jakob Böhme.