View source for Peter Fliesteden

[[File:Gedenkstein1.jpg|thumb|Memorial stone for [[Adolf Clarenbach]] and Peter Fliesteden in the [[Melaten-Friedhof]]]]
'''Peter Fliesteden''' (date of birth unknown; died 28&nbsp;September 1529) was condemned to be [[burnt at the stake]] at Melaten near [[Cologne]], as one of the first [[Protestant]] martyrs of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] on the [[Lower Rhine]] in [[Germany]].  He was born in a tiny place also called Fliesteden (now part of [[Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia|Bergheim]], [[Rhein-Erft-Kreis]]) on an unknown date.

==Arrest==

In December 1527, a cathedral priest reported that, during the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] at the [[elevation of the host]], he covered his head, turned his back on it and spat.  Fliesteden arrested immediately outside the [[Cologne Cathedral]] and taken to the prison in the Frankenturm. After long interrogations he was condemned as a "radical Protestant", because he rejected "the duty of confession in church, the vows of the orders, the priesthood and above all the presence of Christ in the sacraments of the [[Eucharist]] and the veneration of the sacrament."{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

===Martyrdom===

He was condemned to be [[burnt at the stake]] at Melaten near Cologne on 28&nbsp;September 1529&nbsp;with another Protestant, [[Adolf Clarenbach]], but died before he could be fastened to the stake, when the executioner, in an attempt to make him keep quiet, pulled on the chain round his throat too tight.

The present Melaten Burial Ground (''Melaten-Friedhof'') now stands near the site and contains a memorial to both Clarenbach and Fliesteden.

== Sources ==
* J. F. Gerhard Goeters: ''Studien zur niederrheinischen Reformationsgeschichte''; Pulheim: Verein für rheinische Kirchengeschichte, 2002; {{ISBN|3-7927-1830-8}}
* {{de-ADB|40|90|91|Vliesteden, Peter|Hermann Keussen|ADB:Fliesteden, Peter}}
* {{NDB|5|247||Fliesteden, Peter|Wilhelm Rahe|118533983}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fliesteden, Peter}}
[[Category:1529 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia]]
[[Category:German Lutherans]]
[[Category:16th-century Protestant martyrs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]

{{Christianity-bio-stub}}
{{Germany-reli-bio-stub}}