Mechteld ten Ham
Mechteld ten Ham (c. 1525 – 25 July 1605) was a Dutch dollmaker who was among the final victims of the witch trials in the Netherlands.[1]
Biography
[edit]
Ten Ham was a widowed dollmaker and fortune teller who lived alone near a church in 's-Heerenberg.[1] Her late husband, Henrick Horning, had been the city's courier.[1][2] Residents of the area sought her predictions for the future; she also sold traditional remedies.[3][4]
She first came under suspicion for witchcraft in 1603, when a local boy claimed he had peeked through her cottage's keyhole and witnessed a young man inside disappearing into thin air.[2] When the boy died of the plague in May 1605, local townspeople began to speculate that ten Ham was responsible for his death and the deaths of others, including Henrick.[1]
At the time, 's-Heerenberg's residents were eager to accuse ten Ham of witchcraft, as doing so provided someone to blame for the city's recent spate of misfortunes.[1] These included an outbreak of plague, repeated crop failures, and a recent raid by Spanish troops as part of the Eighty Years' War.[4] Locals also spread rumours that ten Ham had cursed their livestock and marriages.[5]
In April 1605, ten Ham demanded to be put on trial, as she believed she would pass the ordeal of water.[1][6] Suspects who underwent the ordeal were submerged in water; those who sank would be pronounced innocent, while those who floated were deemed to be confirmed witches.[7] However, ten Ham's dress was buoyant enough that she failed the test.[3]
Ten Ham was tortured over the following months until she confessed, on 9 June 1605, that she had used magic to spread the plague and cause hostilities with Spain.[1][2][3] Though she soon recanted her admission, she confessed again after undergoing further torture.[2] She was executed by strangulation on 25 July 1605 by executioner Walter Janssen, and her body was burnt afterwards.[1][3]
Legacy
[edit]A statue commemorating ten Ham stands in 's-Heerenberg.[5]
In local folklore, ten Ham is said to haunt the Montferland forest, where she was executed.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (14 June 2024). Witch Trials: A Worldwide Chronology. McFarland. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-4766-9441-2.
- 1 2 3 4 Gijswijt-Hofstra, Marijke; Frijhoff, Willem (1991). Witchcraft in the Netherlands: From the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Century. Universitaire Pers. p. 177. ISBN 978-90-237-1143-8.
- 1 2 3 4 Woerlee, Gerard (August 2012). "Women and Witches in the Republic". Neerlandia Magazine. p. 25.
- 1 2 Flight, Tim (15 October 2019). "40 Real People Executed for Witchcraft". History Collection. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- 1 2 Schipper, Mineke (10 September 2026). Widows: The Last Feminist Taboo. Saqi Books. ISBN 978-1-908906-70-0.
- ↑ Boztas, Senay (4 October 2024). "Dutch feminists campaign for national monument to 'witches'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ Hearn, Daniel Allen (13 August 2015). Legal Executions in New England: A Comprehensive Reference, 1623-1960. McFarland. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-4766-0853-2.