Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer
Encyclopedia
Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (1526–1588) was a wood merchant of Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 She was the daughter of Simon Hasselaer and Grietje Koen. When the city was besieged by the Spanish
Siege of Haarlem
The siege of Haarlem was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. From December 11, 1572 to July 13, 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 previous summer...

, she led a company of women in defence of the city, becoming famous for bravery. Around the date the city surrendered, she was able to flee.

By resolution of 2 September 1574, she became Weighing House Master and Collector of Peat in the city of Arnemuiden
Arnemuiden
Arnemuiden is a small 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.It received city rights in 1574....

. In 1577, she is mentioned in documents as an inhabitant of Leyden. Not long after, she bought a ship to resume her trade as wood merchant. In May 1589, her daughters sued skipper Lieven Hansz from Holstein for this ship. During the trial, it was proven that she left port for Norway in 1588 and disappeared. Lieven Hansz stated that he had bought the ship in Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

 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 exist also.

Her name lives on in colloquial Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

. Originally, it stood for female bravery, but as social role models developed, the word kenau came to stand for "shrew".

See also

  • Siege of Haarlem
    Siege of Haarlem
    The siege of Haarlem was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. From December 11, 1572 to July 13, 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 previous summer...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK