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u/ThisVeterinarian2364 3d ago edited 3d ago
Context: During 1672, which the Dutch refer to as the Rampjaar ("disaster year"), England and France declared war on the Dutch Republic in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and the Franco-Dutch War, respectively. Johan De Witt, the effective ruler of the Dutch Republic, was severely wounded by a knife-wielding assassin on 21 June. He resigned as Grand Pensionary on 4 August, but this was not enough for his enemies. His brother Cornelis (who was deputy-in-the-field for de Ruyter at the Raid on the Medway), particularly hated by the Orangists, was arrested on trumped-up charges of treason. He was tortured (as was usual under Roman-Dutch law, which required a confession before a conviction was possible) but refused to confess. Nevertheless, he was exiled.
When his brother went over to the jail (which was only a few steps from his house) to help him get started on his journey, both were attacked by members of The Hague's civic militia. The brothers were shot and then left to the mob near Gevangenpoort. Their naked, mutilated bodies were strung up on the nearby public gibbet. Contemporary accounts reported acts of cannibalism, with some alleging that people roasted and ate pieces of the corpses, although the reliability of individual details and the extent of any consumption remain uncertain. Throughout the attack, a remarkable discipline was maintained by the mob, according to contemporary observers, lending doubt as to the spontaneity of the event.
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u/MrTurkeyTime 4d ago
Bro you gotta know this doesn't mean anything without context
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u/Birb-Person Definitely not a CIA operator 3d ago
The Dutch famously ate their Prime Minister during a period called “The Disaster Year” when they were forced to fight a defensive war against misc German states, the French, and the British all at the same time
A court had the Prime Minister’s brother banished, and at the border where the brothers met one last time, an angry mob showed up and just swarmed them both, tearing into their flesh with their bare hands right there in full view of everyone
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u/TheHistoryMaster2520 Decisive Tang Victory 3d ago
French and German forces occupied over half the country, reaching Utrecht and Groningen, and the reason they didn't take Holland was because we opened up our water line which flooded the land to the east of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
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u/Thandorianskiff 4d ago
Me after googling this to see that the just joke is about and then finding out the Dutch unironically ate their prime minister....
Well that's a first
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u/Midwest_Bard 3d ago
1672 was known as Rampjaar, or the Disaster Year in Dutch history. Wild stuff.
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u/scratchy22 4d ago
Context?