Swob Sjaarda (1435-1520) was a West Frisian noble, daughter of Douwe Tjaerts Aylva and Sjaarda Edwert and from 1455 married to Jarich Epes Hottinga. In 1475, she became a widow with the responsibility of a castle. This was a period of conflicts between different noble clans in the Netherlands, and her castle was sieged by Skerne Wybe in 1481. According to

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

, she took Wybe hostage by breaking her word, after which she exchanged him for her brother Tjaard Grioestera. Her act in 1481 made her a metaphor for betrayal in the Netherlands: the expression ''Swob'', became a way of saying that someone was not to be trusted.

References

* http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Sjaarda {{DEFAULTSORT:Sjaarda, Swob 1435 births 1520 deaths Medieval Dutch women 16th-century Dutch people Women in 15th-century warfare 16th-century Dutch women Dutch nobility People from Wûnseradiel Women in medieval European warfare Women in war in the Netherlands 15th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire Medieval West Frisians