FEMALE WARRIORS

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer

Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (1526–1588) was a wood merchant of Haarlem, who became a legendary folk hero for her fearless defense of the city against the Spanish invaders during the siege of Haarlem in 1573.

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. One account written in Latin from Delft, 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.

Historical fact

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, was on the list and was arrested, though later released. He also pointed to the lack of period accounts of other women who fought alongside of Kenau. There should have been more female deaths recorded, if the legend were true. 

On the other hand, women were generally not seen as war criminals or beheaded, and thus not mentioned as such. They were rather considered loot, raped and sometimes kept as mistresses or wives by the conqueror. Besides that women fighting to defend a city were not uncommon in that time. During the attack of Antwerp in 1576 (Spaanse Furie) a citizen's army of 12.000 men and women built ramparts and fought against the Spanish.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking