Elizabeth was apprehended on the 15th of January, 1549. When those who had come to apprehend her entered the house in which she lived, they found a Latin Testament. Having secured Elizabeth, they said: “We have got the right man; we have now the teacheress;” adding: “Where is your husband, Menno Simon, the teacher?”
They then brought her to the town-house. The following day two beadles took her between them to prison.
She was then arraigned before the council, and asked upon oath, whether she had a husband.
Elizabeth answered: “We ought not to swear, but our words should be Yea, yea, and Nay, nay; I have no husband.”
Lords: “We say that you are a teacher, and that you seduce many. We have been told this, and we want to know who your friends are.”
Elizabeth: “My God has commanded me to love my Lord and my God, and to honor my parents; hence I will not tell you who my parents are; for what I suffer for the name of Christ is a reproach to my friends.”
Lords: “We will let you alone in regard to this, but we want to know whom you have taught.”
Elizabeth: “Oh no, my lords, let me in peace with this, but interrogate me concerning my faith, which I will gladly tell you.”
Lords: “We shall make you so afraid, that you will tell us.”
Elizabeth: “I hope through the grace of God, that he will keep my tongue, so that I shall not become a traitoress, and deliver my brother into death.”