In June 1572, the citadel of Gorkum was taken by the Watergeuzen, who retained 19 of the clergy as prisoners although they had promised to let the inhabitants depart from the town without being molested.

[2] For reprisals, because of the city's determined defense, they gathered all the members of the clergy in Gorkum into one prison and took out their grievances against the Spanish crown on the priests and religious.

Taking the cord which Pieck wore around his waist and putting it around his neck, they first suspended him from a beam and then let him fall heavily to the ground.

At Brielle the commander of the Watergeuzen, William II de la Marck, promised them freedom if they would renounce the authority of the pope and belief in the Real Presence.

Despite instructions from Prince William the Silent to spare them, and protests from the magistrates of Gorkum,[3] the members of the group were hanged on 9 July 1572 in an old barn at the deserted Ruggen Monastery on the outskirts of Briel.