Act I. At the foot of _Count Oberthal's_ castle, near Dordrecht,

Holland, peasants and mill hands are assembled. _Bertha_ and _Fides_ draw near. The latter is bringing to _Bertha_ a betrothal ring from her son _John_, who is to marry her on the morrow. But permission must first be obtained from _Count Oberthal_ as lord of the domain. The women are here to seek it.

There arrive three sombre looking men, who strive to rouse the people to revolt against tyranny. They are the Anabaptists, _Jonas_, _Matthisen_, and _Zacharias_. The _Count_, however, who chances to come out of the castle with his followers, recognizes in _Jonas_ a steward who was discharged from his employ. He orders his soldiers to beat the three men with the flat of their swords. _John's_ mother and _Bertha_ make their plea to _Oberthal_. _John_ and _Bertha_ have loved ever since he rescued her from drowning in the Meuse. Admiring _Bertha's_ beauty, _Oberthal_ refuses to give permission for her to marry _John_, but, instead, orders her seized and borne to the castle for his own diversion. The people are greatly agitated and, when the three Anabaptists reappear, throw themselves at their feet, and on rising make threatening gestures toward the castle.