Dutch army of women

[pieter]

I just saw an incredible historical movie about an army or militia of women who fought in the Dutch city of Haarlem against a powerful army of Spaniards during the Eighty years war. The movie shows the courage, determination and fighting spirit of women! This was an important part of Dutch history. The women fought next to and with the men of Haarlem and mercenaries against the Spanish enemy. This battle was an important element in the foundation of the United Seven Provinces (the first Dutch Republic) and later the kingdom of the Netherlands. The movie has English subtitles. This is the trailer:

The Courage of one woman



The story of the movie is different than the story of the real Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (* 1526 in Haarlem; † 1588') might be slightly different than the life of the Kenau portrayed in this excellent movie. In the movie play the best Dutch theatrical actors and movie actors together. It is one of the most interesting stories about the Netherlands. The fierce battle of the people of the tiny Low Lands (today the Netherlands, Flanders and Brussels) against the mighty Spaniards.

Later the neighborhood Harlem in New York was named after the Dutch Haarlem in New Amsterdam (New York today)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenau_Simonsdochter_Hasselaer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Haarlem_(1572%E2%80%9373)]\
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_War

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

Für Karl und Kaima

Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer


Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer

Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (* 1526 in Haarlem; † 1588, Todesort unbekannt) hat bei der Belagerung der niederländischen Stadt Haarlem die Verteidigung der Stadt durch 300 Frauen angeführt.

Bei ihrer Geburt war ihr Vater, eigentlich Brauer, Bürgermeister von Haarlem. 1554 heiratete sie den Schiffbauer Nanning Gerbrantsz, mit dem sie drei Kinder hatte. Nach dem Tod ihres Mannes (1562) übernahm sie die Leitung seiner Schiffswerft.

Als Haarlem 1572–1573 von spanischen Truppen belagert wurde soll sie angeblich 300 Frauen bei der Verteidigung der Mauern der Stadt angeführt haben. Dadurch wurde sie nicht nur in Haarlem, sondern in den ganzen Niederlanden berühmt.

Nachdem die Stadt schließlich von den Spaniern erobert wurde floh sie zunächst nach Arnemuiden (Zeeland), kehrte jedoch 1578 nach Haarlem zurück. Auf einer Handelsreise nach Norwegen ist sie 1588 verschollen und angeblich in den Händen von Piraten verstorben.

Die moralische Beurteilung des Lebens dieser Frau war im 19. Jahrhundert eher negativ. In der niederländischen Sprache wird daher immer noch mit dem Substantiv „kenau“ ein Mannweib bezeichnet.

[karl]

Pieter

Thank you for your thoughtfulness in presenting into two languages of your presentation. For with one subject that of Kenau Simondochter Hasselaer, to includant of some Dutch history of early America. My self had known by our studies of America of Dutch ownership of New York being New Amsterdam, but until this time, did not know of the district of Harlem was from the Dutch Haarlem, very interesting in deed so..

Also had I forgotten that Dutch war of independence was in that of: Peace of Westphalia. For this was a very far reaching treaty to that of: Westphalian Sovereignty. For this gave for all National States to have and maintain sovereignty over their own state.

Thank you for presenting, for this a reminder of what should have been remembered from my early school days, and later preparation studies of America and the people.

Karl

[pieter]

Dear Karl,

The Dutch Eighty Years' War was connected to the German Thirty Years' War. The Thirty Years' War was a series of wars in Central Europe between 1618–1648. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest. The Thirty Years' War started in the 'second half' of The Eighty Years' War, or Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648). The main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648 was William I, Prince of Orange (24 April 1533 – 10 July 1584), also widely known as William the Silent or William the Taciturn (translated from Dutch: Willem de Zwijger), or more commonly known as William of Orange (Dutch: Willem van Oranje). William was born on 24 April 1533 in the castle of Dillenburg in the duchy of Nassau in the Holy Roman Empire, now in Hesse, Germany. He was the eldest son of William, Count of Nassau, and Juliana of Stolberg-Werningerode, and was raised a Lutheran. He had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters: John, Hermanna, Louis, Maria, Anna, Elisabeth, Katharine, Juliane, Magdalene, Adolf and Henry. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. He was a stadtholder during the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire, de facto hereditary head of state of the thus crowned republic of the Netherlands.


William of Orange, the first Stadtholder of the young Dutch Republic

After a 12 year truce during the The Eighty Years' War, hostilities broke out again around 1619 which can be said to coincide with the Thirty Years' War. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster (a treaty part of the Peace of Westphalia), when the Dutch Republic was recognised as an independent country.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silent
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_I_Ora%C5%84ski
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_I._(Oranien)

Dutch intervention in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War (1619–1621)


Johan van oldenbarnevelt, (14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619) was a Dutch statesman who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.

It is impossible to know whether the course of history would have been different without the overthrow of the Oldenbarnevelt regime and the judicial murder of the old statesman. However, it is true that Oldenbarnevelt's diplomatic acumen and his restraint were sorely missed in the following months and years when the new Dutch regime became embroiled in a dangerous military adventure in the Holy Roman Empire. Oldenbarnevelt had no ambition to have the Republic become the leading power of Protestant Europe, and he had shown admirable restraint when, in 1614, the Republic had felt constrained to intervene militarily in the Jülich-Cleves crisis opposite Spain. Though there had been a danger of armed conflict between the Spanish and Dutch forces involved in the crisis, both sides took care to avoid each other, respecting each other's spheres of influence.


Engraving depicting Van Oldenbarnevelt's execution.

The new regime in The Hague felt differently, however. While civil war was avoided in the Republic, a civil war did start in the Bohemian Kingdom with the Second defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618. The Bohemian insurgents were now pitted against their king, Ferdinand, who would soon succeed his uncle Matthias (the former States-General governor-general of the Netherlands) as Holy Roman Emperor. They cast about for support in this struggle and on the Protestant side only the Republic was able and willing to provide it. This took the form of support for Frederick V, Elector Palatine, a nephew of Prince Maurice and a son-in-law of James I, when Frederick accepted the Crown of Bohemia the insurgents offered him (he was crowned on 4 November 1619). His father-in-law had sought to restrain him from doing this, warning that he could not count on English aid, but Maurice encouraged him in every way, providing a large subsidy and promising Dutch armed assistance. The Dutch had therefore a large role in precipitating the Thirty Years' War.

Maurice's motivation was the desire to manoeuvre the Republic in a better position in case the war with Spain would resume after the expiration of the Truce in 1621. It was not a foregone conclusion that the Truce would not be renewed, but it had become less likely, as both in Spain and in the Republic more hard-line factions had come to power. Though civil war had been avoided in the Republic, national unity had been bought with much bitterness on the losing Remonstrant side, and Maurice for the moment had to garrison several former Remonstrant-dominated cities to guard against insurrection. This encouraged the Spanish government, perceiving internal weakness in the Republic, to choose a bolder policy in the Bohemian question than they otherwise might have done. The Bohemian war therefore soon degenerated into a proxy war between Spain and the Republic. Even after the Battle of White Mountain of November 1620, which ended disastrously for the Protestant army (one-eighth of which was in the Dutch pay), the Dutch continued to support Frederick militarily, both in Bohemia and in the Palatinate. Maurice also provided diplomatic support, pressing both the Protestant German princes and James I to come to Frederick's aid. When James sent 4,000 English troops in September 1620, those were armed and transported by the Dutch, and their advance covered by a Dutch cavalry column.


Detail from a pamphlet about the Winter King

In the end the Dutch intervention was in vain. After just a few months, Frederick and his wife Elizabeth fled into exile at The Hague, where they became known as the Winter King and Queen for their brief reign. Maurice pressed Frederick in vain to at least defend the Palatinate against the Spanish troops under Spinola and Tilly. This round of the war went to Spain and the Imperialist forces in Germany. James held this against Maurice for his incitement of the losing side with promises that he could not keep.

There was continual contact between Maurice and the government in Brussels during 1620 and 1621 regarding a possible renewal of the Truce. Albert was in favour of it, especially after Maurice falsely gave him the impression that a peace would be possible on the basis of a token recognition by the Republic of the sovereignty of the king of Spain. When Albert sent the chancellor of Brabant, Petrus Peckius, to The Hague to negotiate with the States-General on this basis, he fell into this trap and innocently started talking about this recognition, instantly alienating his hosts. Nothing was as certain to unite the northern provinces as the suggestion that they should abandon their hard-fought sovereignty. If this incident had not come up, the negotiations might well have been successful as a number of the provinces were amenable to simply renewing the Truce on the old terms. Now the formal negotiations were broken off, however, and Maurice was authorised to conduct further negotiations in secret. His attempts to get a better deal met with counter-demands from the new Spanish government for more substantive Dutch concessions, however. The Spaniards demanded Dutch evacuation of the West and East Indies; lifting of the restrictions on Antwerp's trade by way of the Scheldt; and toleration of the public practice of the Catholic religion in the Republic. These demands were unacceptable to Maurice and the Truce expired in April 1621.

The war did not immediately resume, however. Maurice continued sending secret offers to Isabella after Albert had died in July 1621[38] through the intermediary of the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens. Though the contents of these offers (which amounted to a version of the concessions demanded by Spain) were not known in the Republic, the fact of the secret negotiations became known, and disquieted the proponents of restarting the war, like the investors in the Dutch West India Company, that after a long delay was now finally about to be founded with as a main objective bringing the war to the Spanish Americas. Opposition against the peace feelers therefore mounted, and nothing came of them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_van_Oldenbarnevelt
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_van_Oldenbarnevelt
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_van_Oldenbarnevelt

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

In Danish for Karl!

Vilhelm den Tavse



Vilhelm, fyrste af Oranien, greve af Nassau-Dillenburg eller Vilhelm den Tavse (hollandsk: Willem van Oranje, Willem de Zwijger, latin: Taciturnus) (14. eller 24. april 1533 i Dillenburg – 10. juli 1584 i Delft) var leder af det hollandske oprør mod Spanien, som udløste uafhængighedskrigen, kendt som Firsårskrigen, og som resulterede i den formelle selvstændighed for De forenede Nederlande i 1648.

Vilhelm den Tavse var søn af Vilhelm 1. af Nassau-Dillenburg og far til bl.a. Morits af Oranien og Frederik Henrik af Oranien.

Vilhelm den tavse blev skudt og dræbt i sin residens Prinsenhof i Delft af Balthazar Gérard i 1584.

Det er Vilhelm den tavse, der synges om i Het Wilhelmus, den nederlandske nationalsang.

The murder of William of Orange by Balthazar Gerards


Assassination


Bullet holes from the murder at the Prinsenhof in Delft

The Catholic Frenchman Balthasar Gérard (born 1557) was a supporter of Philip II, and in his opinion, William of Orange had betrayed the Spanish king and the Catholic religion. After Philip II declared William an outlaw and promised a reward of 25,000 crowns for his assassination, and of which Gérard learned in 1581, he decided to travel to the Netherlands to kill William. He served in the army of the governor of Luxembourg, Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, for two years, hoping to get close to William when the armies met. This never happened, and Gérard left the army in 1584. He went to the Duke of Parma to present his plans, but the Duke was unimpressed. In May 1584, he presented himself to William as a French nobleman, and gave him the seal of the Count of Mansfelt. This seal would allow forgeries of the messages of Mansfelt to be made. William sent Gérard back to France to pass the seal on to his French allies.

Gérard returned in July, having bought two wheel-lock pistols on his return voyage. On 10 July, he made an appointment with William of Orange in his home in Delft, nowadays known as the Prinsenhof. That day, William was having dinner with his guest Rombertus van Uylenburgh. After William left the dining room and walked down-stairs, Van Uylenburgh heard Gérard shoot William in the chest at close range. Gérard fled to collect his reward.

According to official records, William's last words are said to have been:

Mon Dieu, ayez pitié de mon âme; mon Dieu, ayez pitié de ce pauvre peuple.

My God, have pity on my soul; my God, have pity on this poor people.

[pieter]

About the death of Johan van oldenbarnevelt (14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619) which I consider a crime and a grave mistake, and the guilt of the Orange ruler of that time Maurits of Orange:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice,_Prince_of_Orange
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurycy_Ora%C5%84ski
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritz_(Oranien)

The States of Holland noted in their Resolution book on 13 May that Van Oldenbarnevelt had been: "…a man of great business, activity, memory and wisdom – yes, extra-ordinary in every respect." They added the sentence Die staet siet toe dat hij niet en valle, "He who stands, let him take care that he does not fall", which is a quotation of 1 Cor 10: 12 ("Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall") which probably should be understood as referring to both how Oldenbarnevelt ended after holding one of the highest offices in the Republic and for choosing the side of the Arminians, whom were ruled to be standing outside the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Faith by the Synod of Dort.

Joost van den Vondel



Joost van den Vondel (Dutch: [ˈjoːst vɑn dɛn ˈvɔndəɫ]; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant (1662), on the life of John the Baptist, has been called the greatest Dutch epic.

Performances of his theatre pieces occur regularly. The most visible was the annual performance, on New Year's Day from 1637 to 1968, of Gijsbrecht van Aemstel. Vondels 'Gijsbrecht van Aemstel' is stil played today!



Vondel stayed productive until a very old age. Several of his most notable plays like Lucifer and Adam in Ballingschap were written after 1650, when he was already 65.

Biography

Joost van den Vondel was born on 17 November 1587 on the Große Witschgasse in Cologne, Holy Roman Empire. His parents were Mennonites of Antwerpian descent. In 1595, probably because of their religious conviction, they fled to Utrecht and from there they eventually moved to Amsterdam in the newly formed Dutch Republic.

At the age of 23, Vondel married Mayken de Wolff. Together they had four children, of whom two died in infancy. After the death of his father in 1608, Vondel managed the family hosiery shop on the Warmoesstraat in Amsterdam. In the meantime, he began to learn Latin and became acquainted with famous poets such as Roemer Visscher.

Around the year 1641 he converted to Catholicism. This was a great shock to most of his fellow countrymen, because the main conviction and de facto state religion in the Republic was Calvinist Protestantism. It is still unclear why he became a Catholic, although his love for a Catholic lady may have played a role in this (Mayken de Wolff had died in 1635).

During his life he became one of the main advocates for religious tolerance. After the arrest, trial and the immediate beheading of the most important civilian leader of the States of the Netherlands, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1619), at the command of his enemy, Prince Maurits of Nassau, and the Synod of Dort (1618–1619), the Calvinists had become the decisive religious power in the Republic. Public practice of Catholicism, Anabaptism and Arminianism was, from then on, officially forbidden but worship in clandestine houses of prayer was not persecuted. Vondel wrote many satires criticising the Calvinists and extolling Oldenbarnevelt. This, together with his new faith, made him an unpopular figure in Calvinist circles. He died a bitter man, though he was honoured by many fellow poets, on 5 February 1679.

Amsterdam's biggest park, the Vondelpark, bears his name. There is a statue of Vondel in the northern part of the park. The Dutch five guilder banknote bore Vondel's portrait from 1950 until its discontinuation in 1990.





Lucifer (1654) and Milton's Paradise Lost

It has been suggested that John Milton drew inspiration from Lucifer (1654) and Adam in Ballingschap (1664) for his Paradise Lost (1667). In some respects the two works have similarities: the focus on Lucifer, the description of the battle in heaven between Lucifer's forces and Michael's, and the anti-climax as Adam and Eve leave Paradise.

These similarities however can be explained in that they probably both drew inspiration from the Bible and perhaps Adamus exil by Hugo Grotius. Although it is certain that Milton knew some Dutch, because Roger Williams taught him in exchange for Hebrew lessons, it is to be doubted that Milton knew enough Dutch to understand the plays, and at that time English translations of Vondel's works did not exist. Lastly, both works differ in many points, mainly in the dialogues.

An example of similarity is the following:

"Here may we reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell.

Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."

Milton's Paradise Lost
"Is ’t noodlot, dat ick vall’, van eere en staet berooft,
Laet vallen, als ick vall’, met deze kroone op ’t hooft,
Dien scepter in de vuist, dien eersleip van vertrouden,
En zoo veel duizenden als onze zyde houden.
Dat valle streckt tot eer, en onverwelckbren lof:
En liever d’ eerste Vorst in eenigh laeger hof,
Dan in ’t gezalight licht de tweede, of noch een minder
Zoo troost ick my de kans, en vrees nu leet noch hinder."

Translation:
Is it fate that I will fall, robbed of honour and dignity,
Then let me fall, if I were to fall, with this crown upon my head
This sceptre in my fist, this company of loyals,
And as many as are loyal to our side.
This fall would honour one, and give unwilting praise:
And rather [would I be] foremost king in any lower court,
Than rank second in most holy light, or even less
Thus I justify my revolt, and will now fear pain nor hindrance.



Translation of the video

What creature else so wretched is as I?
On the one side flicker feeble rays of hope,
While on the other yawns a flaming horror.
A triumph is most dubious; defeat
Most hard to shun. In such uncertainty,
God and His banner to oppose?—the first 390
To be a standard to unfurl 'gainst God,
His trump celestial and revealed command?
—Of rebels thus to make myself the chief,
And 'gainst the law of Heaven another law
To oppose?—to fall into the dreadful curse
Of a most base ingratitude?—to wound
The mercy, love, and majesty of Him,
The Father bountiful, source of all good
That e'er was given or may yet be received?
How have I erred so far from duty's path? 400
I have abjured my Maker: how can I
Before that Light disguise my blasphemy
And wickedness? Retreat availeth not.
Nay, I have gone too far. What remedy?
What best to do amid this hopelessness?
The time brooks no delay. One moment's time
Is not enough, if time it may be called,
This brevity 'twixt bliss and endless doom.
But 'tis too late. No cleansing for my stain
Is here. All hope is past. What remedy? 410
Hark I there I hear God's trumpet blow without.

Vondel's Lucifer

[pieter]

Flemish voice performs a Vondel poem

[pieter]

Joost van den Vondel



Joost van den Vondel (ur. 17 listopada 1587 w Kolonii, zm. 5 lutego 1679 w Amsterdamie) - niderlandzki dramatopisarz i poeta klasycznej doby niderlandzkiej.

Vondel uważany jest obok Gerbranta Bredero i Pietera Corneliszoona Hoofta za najważniejszego pisarza niderlandzkiego złotego okresu Holandii. Należał do założonego przez Hoofta kręgu przyjaciół sztuki Muiderkring[1]. Jego rodzice byli mennonitami i uciekli przed prześladowaniami religijnymi z katolickiej Kolonii. Jako liryk w doskonałej, wzniosłej i pełnej uczucia formie opiewał swój kraj, Ren i śmierć swoich ukochanych, w satyrach politycznych występował głównie przeciw fanatykom kalwińskim (sam od roku 1641 był katolikiem). Jego dramaty należą do najlepszych w literaturze niderlandzkiej. Wydania zbiorowe poezji Vondela ukazywały się w latach (1850—1869) i obejmowały 12 tomów. Jego postać została wspomniana w powieści Odkrycie nieba Harry'ego Mulischa.

[pieter]

You could say that Joost van den Vondel is regarded as the Dutch National poet like Adam Mickiewicz is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus, and Alexander Pushkin of Russia, William Shakespeare of England, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller from Germany; and Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire of France; Dante Alighieri of Italy: Adam Oehlenschläger of Denmark; and Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav of Slovakia. Van den Vondel is a poet of historical, cultural and (Dutch) language importance in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). The other national poets of Belgium are Emile Verhaeren and Maurice Maeterlinck. Jacob Cats is the second National Poet of the Netherlands. The Third Dutch National poet and important historical figure of the Netherlands is Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (16 March 1581 in Amsterdam – 21 May 1647 in The Hague). Hooft, Knight in the Order of Saint Michael, was a Dutch historian, poet and playwright from the period known as the Dutch Golden Age.


P.C. Hooft

In 1598, his father sent him to France and Italy in order to get prepared for a career as tradesman. However, Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft was more interested in art. In particular, he was deeply impressed by the Italian renaissance.

In 1609, he was appointed bailiff of Muiden and the Gooiland. He founded the Muiderkring, a literary society located at his home, the Muiderslot, the castle of Muiden, in which he got to live due to his appointment as sheriff of Muiden. Among the members were the poets and playwrights Constantijn Huygens, Maria Tesselschade, G.A. Bredero and Joost van den Vondel, as well as the Portuguese singer Francisca Duarte. Hooft, Bredero, and Vondel were also founders of the First Nederduytsche Academy ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Dutch_Academy ).


The First Nederduytsche Academy

Work

Hooft was a prolific writer of plays, poems and letters, but he concentrated from 1618 onwards on writing his history of the Netherlands (Nederduytsche Historiën), inspired by Roman historian Tacitus. His focus was primarily on the Eighty Years' War between the Netherlands and Spain. Though he tried in this work to give a report of the events which was as impartial as possible, he did not really succeed in doing so.

As a poet, he was influenced by his Renaissance contemporaries in France and Italy.

Sir Constantijn Huygens (4 September 1596 – 28 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.

Muiderkring



He is often considered a member of what is known as the Muiderkring, a group of leading intellectuals gathered around the poet Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, who met regularly at the castle of Muiden near Amsterdam. In 1619 Constantijn came into contact with Anna Roemers Visscher and with Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. Huygens exchanged many poems with Anna. In 1621 a poetic exchange with Hooft also starts. Both would always try to exceed the other. In October of that year Huygens sent Jacob Cats a large poem in Dutch, entitled 't Voorhout, about a woodland near the Hague. In December he started writing 't Kostelick Mal, a satirical treatment of the nonsense of the current vogue. In 1623 Huygens wrote his Printen, a description of several characteristics of people. This satirical, moralising work was one of the most difficult of Huygens' poems. In the same year Maria Tesselschade and Allard Crombalch were married. For this occasion verses were written by Huygens, Hooft and Vondel. During the festival, Constantijn flirted with Machteld of Camps. As a result of this he wrote the poem Vier en Vlam. In 1625 the work Otia, or Ledige Uren, was published. This work showcased his collected poems.



The Polish National poets

The Three Bards (Polish: trzej wieszcze, IPA: [ˈtʂɛj ˈvjɛʂt͡ʂɛ]) are the national poets of Polish Romantic literature are Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński. They lived and worked in exile during the partitions of Poland which ended the existence of the Polish sovereign state. Their tragic poetical plays and epic poetry written in the aftermath of the 1830 Uprising against the Russian rulership, revolved around the Polish struggle for independence from foreign powers.
Jan Kochanowski can be considered as the fourth National Polish poet. Jaga, could probably tell more about them.


Adam Mickiewicz


Juliusz Słowacki


Zygmunt Krasiński


Jan Kochanowski

[pieter]

Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft



Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (ur. 16 marca 1581, zm. 21 maja 1647) – holenderski poeta, dramaturg i historyk epoki renesansu.

Był humanistą. W jego twórczości można dostrzec wpływ poetów klasycznych (Owidiusz, Horacy), Petrarki oraz poetów z francuskiej grupy Plejada. Tworzył poezję miłosną. Najbardziej znane były jego elegie oraz sonety, uchodzące za najwybitniejsze osiągnięcie renesansowej poezji niderlandzkiej. Pisał także utwory dramatyczne, w tym komedię Warenar (1616) oraz dramat z historii Holandii Geeraerd van Velsen (1613). Był też autorem głośnego dzieła historycznego Nedelandsche Historien (t. 1-20 1642, t. 21-27 1654). Założyciel kręgu przyjaciół sztuki Muiderkring.

[pieter]

[Jaga]

Pieter,

I was looking for this thread to read the post already for two days.... since it was on my list. I hope I would be able to read it since it is on my list since we finished parents-teachers conferences. Thanks for posting!

[pieter]

You're welcome. I learned a lot watching the movie and reading the post too. I rediscovered parts of the Dutch past.

Here more about that courageois woman from Haarlem.


An Army of Judiths by C.J. Underwood



‘She brought Haarlem to the edge of victory, and the enemy to its knees’

I first encountered the legend of Kenau Hasselaar when I overheard a professor and his students at the University of Leiden’s library in 1994, and was immediately captivated. The professor spoke about the savage sixteenth century Dutch Revolt against the invading Spanish King Phillip II, the revolt that inspired one woman’s fight to preserve the lifestyle that her family had nurtured for generations. Kenau’s battle was the seven-month Siege of Haarlem, 1572-1573. The professor recited the legend of this spirited aristocrat who had been driven to form an army of three hundred women soldiers. He said that Kenau had trained them to fight the Spanish back from the walls of Haarlem, but had refused to wear armour.

From the moment Kenau entered my consciousness, I determined to learn every possible detail about this inspirational female character, a woman that was grist to the mill of my own life story. Although I’d always written, I had spent my career at the time travelling a man’s world; I’d thought nothing of working as a chef in all-male brigades, and was the first woman in the British Merchant Navy to work in the North Sea.


Author CJ Underwood

My first surprise was that in the Netherlands the name Kenau was synonymous with the derogative, pregnant dog. If Kenau Hasselaar had indeed been a Dutch war heroine, I couldn’t understand why she was so maligned by modern Dutch society. After a thorough search of the Amsterdam women’s library, and various other institutions, I was baffled to find nothing more solid than a couple of cursory, albeit reliable, reference works and some old, unreliable stories of Kenau’s part in the siege. I found a tapestry of Kenau in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, but it wasn’t until some years later that paintings of Kenau Hasselaar were available online.

It seemed to me that legends have a lot to answer for, after all these years the fable that Kenau Hasselaar was a dedicated cutthroat for the sake of it should have morphed into something more honourable. She may indeed have been a hellcat, but she must have been so much more besides. Some legends just beg interrogation.

Having visited Haarlem many times to research Kenau Hasselaar’s role in the siege, I enlisted the help of a few eminent historians, one of whom explained that Kenau must have been a frequent visitor to the Cityhouse to meet with Haarlem’s magistrates in order to collect writs that she’d handed to her debtors, some whom lived as far afield as Delft.

Luckily, those official meetings were well documented, otherwise no personal information would have survived about Kenau’s lifestyle, at least publically. One historian suggested to me that Kenau might have been quite an unwelcome sight at the Cityhouse, just for that reason alone. I don’t think she’d have been too happy with anyone poking about in her affairs, however, which is why I was so keen to get my facts right. My novel rigorously follows the historical details of the siege itself, which was fortunately well documented. It is a remarkable history that needs no embellishment, and the more I discovered, the deeper went my respect for Kenau Hasselaar, and indeed all the courageous citizens of Haarlem, particularly the women who withstood the brutality of sixteenth century warfare.

My second big surprise was that in Northern Europe at the time, when a city was under attack, women had always fought. Towns and cities were built with ramparts, they were formed as citadels, or bastions, and when attacked everyone defended their home. This was early modern feminism in action. Women were probably more vicious in battle than we’ve ever given them credit for, and as a woman I feel particularly touched by accounts of man’s inhumanity towards women. I immediately put myself in Kenau’s shoes; as a mature Dutch woman, mother, and no fool, Kenau must have known that once those marauding Spaniards broke through the bulwarks and gates of Haarlem, she and her daughters, sisters and nieces would lose their lives in ways too terrible to contemplate. So Kenau wasted no time in contemplating the obvious; she rounded up three hundred of Haarlem’s toughest, most formidable women, and taught them how to defend themselves; to fight off the enemy, and to protect their beloved city. But first they rebuilt the decrepit walls of Haarlem.

Then they waited.

I believe that writing about any national legend carries a great deal of responsibility, but having researched the war in great detail, including Haarlem’s and Kenau’s role in the siege, I agree with certain academics that Kenau’s name has, at times, been denigrated. Legends can be exaggerated, but they don’t make themselves. I am always gripped by the sort of mind that cannot even contemplate defeat. Perhaps Kenau would not have been the sort of woman you’d want at your dinner party, and quite a challenging woman to get to know, or even like, on a personal level. As a character she certainly eluded me for a good while. I owe a debt of gratitude to those who have researched and written about Kenau Hasselaar, whatever their bias.

booksbywomen.org/kenau-hasselaar/

[pieter]

[pieter]

Also Kenau, the Haarlem woman, who fought against the Spanish, was a Dutch Roman Catholic.