A Brill Calendar: May 2

Trijn van Leemput's Example

Few foreign observers of Dutch society after the Middle Ages fail to mention the unique position of women.

The social, emotional and spiritual traffic between sexes is an inexhaustible source of inspiration world-wide to scholars and artists – among them historians and poets. Considering that half of the specimens of Homo sapiens throughout historical time is underrepresented in its Chronicle, it stands to reason to address this peculiarly Dutch counter-phenomenon in this article.

Italian, Spanish, Swiss, German, Russian and English commentators consistently mention curious levels of literacy amongst Eve’s daughters in the Low Countries; as well as other singular attainments. From reading and writing to printing and publishing is quite a leap; but typographical labour in Leyden’s past demonstrates that the discipline was not restricted to men. Paul Hoftijzer, Leyden Professor for the History of Books, has no difficulty finding women active in Leyden’s academic and general book-trade, where prominent and strong females were often at work and at the helm; although usually widowed.

But even in the Low Countries it is seldom that feminine power manifests itself with such might as in Utrecht City, on May 2 1577. After Spanish soldiers abandoned the city early that year, ‘Vredenburg’ – a castle built by Charles V of Habsburg adjacent to the town to keep its populace under control and at ‘peace’ (‘Vrede’) – continued to be a threat to Utrecht. However the City Council didn’t dare to make the decision to dismantle it.

At last, Trijn, sturdy spouse of the municipal brewer Jan van Leemput had enough of this endless male bickering. At the head of a feminine squadron armed with spades and axes, Trijn marched on that fine spring-day against the icon of oppression. When the ‘weaker’ half of humanity showed to be perfectly able to use the tools of ‘a man’s world’ adequately, the whole citizenry came to assistance. Within one day, the stone ogre was levelled.