Hi there,

thanks! Holland has got a lot of history, a bit like England, there is a lot of history about William of Orange ( i don't know if you know him, but he is the one who questioned our king at the time Charles V, who prosecuted many people for different reasons, he also was the one who had a dream of freedom), i can highly recommend if you ever come to visit the following places: Delft (where William is burried and his house still can be visited, he is also killed there, the bulletholes are still in the wall, a very strange feeling when you stand there), also a lot of the buildings are still in the condition of the renaissance, then there is a place called Oudewater, where woman and men were put on a big scale to weigh them, to proof if they were a witch or not, you can still weigh yourself there and get a certificate if you would be witch or not. The prosecution of witches in the Netherlands was a big one, many innocent woman (and some man) have been put to death under the most terrible ways. Also i would recommend Amsterdam, the famous paintings of Rembrand you can find there, the Nightwatch is there in all it's glory.

Also we do have a sort of Tower remaining in Den Haag, people were imprissoned and tortured in this famous prison, that now has a function of a museum.

We have  a lot of history, unfortunetaly, many things have been teared down, for modern buildings. The most famous our country is for its freedom of speech. There is  a lot to see in here, but i am sure that this will also be the case in your country.

If you want to see some egyptian history, you should go to Leiden in the Netherlands, they have a huge collection of Egyptian an Roman history, including mummies and great treasures, they even got a temple in the hall thas has been a present from the egyptian government.

If you ever go there, contact me and i will lead you the way!

I'm looking forward to spend more time on the forum and getting to know you all..

Claire said:

Hi Kelly,

Welcome to The Anne Boleyn Files!

I love Linda Porter's book on Mary, her biography of Catherine Parr is also excellent and you should enjoy the Eric Ives book on Anne Boleyn, it's the best one on Anne. Enjoy your reading!

Thnks Claire,

I applaud you for this great community.. I must say, i am addicted..

So keep up the great work! Your doing a great job…

Greeitings

Kelly

Sharon said:

Kelly said:

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That is a good question, i have no idea, it is huge thing, you can see a pic of it here: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/W…..Oudewater)

Sorry it is in dutch. nobody has ever been condemned when they were on the scale. But it must be noticed that for a certifacte you had to pay, Judged did not believe in the proofs at the time Charles V appionted the Heksenwaag in 1545 as the only scale who could be trusted. People who wanted to be weighed on the scale were people with money. So it was no succes, but it is still there in all its glory.

 

The witchtrials made no further use of it.

 

Thnks for welcoming me!

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Thanks Kelly. I found a picture on this site: http://www.planetware.com/pict…..-nl308.htm

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Hi sharon,

 

Did you see the information, when you click on the link of the witches weigh house, i thought it was hysterical, it gifs you a answer to your question and the answer really made me laugh.

 

According to my book of charles v the witches house was build in the 15th century and used during the end of the reign of charles v.

 

But i wanted to place the answer in here, i think it is very funny..

 

Oudewater's best-known sight is the Heksenwaag (“Witches' Weigh House”). The scales in this weigh house (1595) were used for the weighing of women alleged to be witches. In practice most of them were cleared of the allegation, for even in those days few Dutch women weighed less than 50kg/110lb, and if a supposed witch weighed more than that she could not be a witch, since the broomstick would have broken under her weight. Visitors can have themselves weighed, and are then given a certificate of their weight.

Sharon said:

Kelly said:

Oh my Sharon, then you should be greatfull that you were not born in those times. I can not believe how woman in those days were in so much danger. did you ever read  Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches Hammer)  by  Sprenger and Kramer, 2 inquisitors from the Catholic church, who wrote this book for the inquisitors who were responsible for the trials, i have it here, but i never ended it. I was terrified reading it, it was so degrading (hope to prounounce it right) to woman. It tells a lot about how people thought of wichtes en how simple their mind worked.. Unbelievable.

 

Anyway, maybe Cromwell used this book on the plotting of Anne's downfall… It would not surprise me at all.

 

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I have heard of this book, but have not read it.  I know I would not be able to get through it.  I have tried to read books about the Inquisition, and have failed to finish them.  I get so angry and frustrated.  These were terrifying times for everyone.  If one didn't measure up to what was said to be normal, they were tortured and burned.  I have read about our own witch trials here in the US.  That was enough for me.  

Well it contains 3 sorts of books in one, one is what is a witch and what is their crime (dancing with the devil and having sex with the devil at sabbaths, boiling baby's so that they can make substance for flying, transforming them selves in other people or animals, deliberately ruin stocks and harvest, killing someone with their evil eye, most of them were woman who helped other woman with their delivery of a child, most of them were old en in the eyes of the writer ugly, one case is reported of a woman who was grazy (in the forword of the writer who studied the books, say that a lot of demented woman with alzheimer were victims), 2 is how do you catch them and how should the trial take place (torture is allowed), how do you torture the woman (it was seldom a man, but always a woman, must be written by some frustrating men), the final part of the book is about how to punish them, wich was mostly burning at the stake at that time the woman were glad to end their suffering. It was a disgusting book and i never finished it, it was to much hate against woman!

The salem witch trials i have read about and watch the movie with Winona Ryder. It were hard times..