Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (1526–1588) was a wood merchant of
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
, who became a legendary folk hero for her fearless defense of the city against the Spanish invaders during the
siege of Haarlem
The siege of Haarlem was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. From 11 December 1572 to 13 July 1573 an army of Philip II of Spain laid bloody siege to the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, whose loyalties had begun wavering during the pre ...
in 1573.
Biography
![Kenau_Hasselaar_op_de_wallen_van_Haarlem](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Kenau_Hasselaar_op_de_wallen_van_Haarlem.gif)
She was the daughter of the Haarlem brewer Simon Gerrits and Guerte Koen Hasselaer. When the city was
besieged by the Spanish, period diarists reported that all of the townspeople, man, woman, and child, fearlessly helped to rebuild the city defenses that had been destroyed by enemy cannon.
[''Kenu Symonsdochter van Haerlem'', by G. H. Kurtz, Assen, 1956] One account written in Latin from
Delft
Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...
, mentioned Kenau by name as an unusually fearless woman who worked night and day carrying earth to the city walls to rebuild the defense line.
This (anonymous) account mentioned in the next paragraph how the people of Haarlem stood on these earthworks and threw burning tar wreaths around the necks of the enemy, and described how one Spanish soldier jumped into the river Spaarne to douse the flames only to drown from the weight of his armor. Somehow the story arose that it was Kenau who threw these 'tar wreaths'. Kenau’s role as an earth carrier was soon glorified into a full-fledged soldier who was honored at the centennial celebrations of independence from Spain in 1673 and again during the bicentenary in 1773. By the 19th century she had led an army of 300 women against the Spanish, which had even been commemorated in a romantic painting by Barent Wijnveld and J.H. Egenberger.
Authenticity
![Beleg van Haarlem - Executies door de Spanjaarden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Beleg_van_Haarlem_-_Executies_door_de_Spanjaarden.jpg)
It was the Haarlem doctor and historian Dr. C. Ekama who first questioned the Kenau legend in 1872 on the eve of the tricentenary celebrations. He pointed out that neither she nor any other woman had been placed on the list of 'war criminals' after the Spanish took control, while her 18-year-old cousin
Pieter Dirksz Hasselaer, a member of the
schutterij
Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...
, was on the list and was arrested, though later released.
[''Het Beleg en de. Verdediging van Haarlem in. 1572 en 1573'', by Cornelius Ekama, 1876] However, women were generally not seen as war criminals or beheaded, and thus not mentioned as such. Additionally, women fighting to defend a city were not uncommon in that time such as during the attack of Antwerp in 1576 (
Spaanse Furie) where a citizen's army of 12,000 men and women built ramparts and fought against the Spanish.
Archival evidence
She married Nanning Gerbrandsz Borst around 1544. They had four children: Guerte, Margriet, Lubbrich and Gerbrand. After the death of her husband in 1562 she continued his business. After her daughter Lubbrecht died, she took the motherless son of her brother Coen into her home, also called Guerte, like her daughter.
[ She was the sister-in-law of ]Hadrianus Junius
Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575), also known as Adriaen de Jonghe, was a Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, antiquarian, historiographer, emblematist, school rector, and Latin poet.
He is not to be confused with several ...
and left Haarlem soon after the siege ended.[ Through him she probably came into contact with the Delft brewer David Jansz, with whom she made a contract in ]grain trade
The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...
. Through this trade she heard of a lucrative post in Arnemuiden, which she won; by resolution of 2 September 1574, she became Weighing House Master and Collector of Peat in the city of Arnemuiden
Arnemuiden is a city of around 5000 people in the municipality of Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. It is located on the former island of Walcheren, about 3 km east of the city of Middelburg.
On the 23 September 1338, ...
.[ In 1577, she is mentioned in documents as an inhabitant of ]Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
"op de vliet".[ Not long after, she returned to Haarlem, where her son Gerbrand had become an independent shipbuilder. In 1579 her name appears in the shipyard lists, but she was apparently not documented as a returning hero.][ In fact she went to great trouble in 1585 to receive money from the Haarlem council for wood delivered during the siege that was never paid for.][ In 1593 some money was paid to her daughters.][
She bought a ship to resume her trade as wood merchant, which made about 5 trips per year to Norway.][ The captain was taken hostage and Kenau went to great lengths to have him released, but apparently she travelled north and became the victim of pirates herself, according to her daughters.][ In May 1589, her daughters sued skipper Lieven Hansz from ]Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
for this ship. During the trial, it was proven that she had left port for Norway in 1588 and disappeared. Lieven Hansz stated that he had bought the ship in Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
from the port official charged with selling deserted ships. It is therefore often assumed that she died at the hands of pirates, but other theories too exist.
Legacy
In 1800 the Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...
named a frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
, the ''Kenau Haselaar'' after her.
Her name lives on in colloquial Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
. Originally, it stood for female bravery, but as social role models developed, the word ''kenau'' came to stand for "shrew".
In 2014 a Dutch film was released about her with Monic Hendrickx
Monic Hendrickx (born 3 December 1966 in Sint Anthonis) is a Dutch actress. She has won several awards during her career including four Golden Calf awards for Best Actress at the Nederlands Film Festival, the Jury Award at the 2001 Newport Beach ...
in the lead role.
File:Kenau Simonsdr Hasselaar.jpg, Fantasy portrait of Kenau with weapons, aged 47 in 1573.
File:Kenau simons hasselaer jacob houbraken 1760.JPG, Kenau engraving by Jacob Houbraken
Jacobus Houbraken (25 December 1698 – 14 November 1780) was a Dutch engraver and the son of the artist and biographer Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719), whom he assisted in producing a published record of the lives of artists from the Dutch Gold ...
after the fantasy portrait
File:Ferdinand de Braekeleer (1792-1883), Kenau Simonsdr. Hasselaar tijdens het belg van Haarlem, 1829, Olievrf op doek.JPG, Kenau leading Haarlem women, by Ferdinand de Braekeleer the Elder, 1829
File:Kenau en de Vrouwen van Haarlem.jpeg, Kenau leading Haarlem women in front of the Amsterdamse Poort (Haarlem), by sculptor Theo Mulder
File:Kenau-Ripperda monument on Stationsplein Haarlem 03.JPG, Kenau with Wigbolt Ripperda
Wigbolt, Baron Ripperda (1535? – 16 July 1573) was the city governor of Haarlem when the city was under siege by the Spanish army in the Eighty Years' War.
Biography
Wigbolt Ripperda was the son of Baron Focko Ripperda van Winsum and Bar ...
on the Stationsplein Haarlem, by sculptor Graziella Curreli
References
* Fr., de Witt Huberts "Het Beleg van Haarlem". The Hague, 1944
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselaer, Kenau Simonsdochter
1526 births
1588 deaths
Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces)
Businesspeople from Haarlem
16th-century Dutch businesswomen
Women in 16th-century warfare
Women in war in the Netherlands