The Massacre at Oudewater

CNG 108, Lot: 1075. Estimate $2000. Sold for $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DUTCH REVOLT (Nederlandse Opstand), Low Countries. Oudewater. Besieged by the Spanish under the command of Gilles van Berlaymont, 19 July-7 August 1575. Tin 20 Stuiver (35mm, 19.52 g). Civic coat-of-arms; in ornate stamps, GODT and MET above 1575 to left ZO (mark of value) to right, ONS below / Blank. P&W Ou 02; Gelder, Noodmunten, 63a; Maillet 2; Lasser –; CNM 2.37.2. In NGC encapsulation, 4212890-001, graded AU 55.

Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.9372 (Numismatica Genevensis SA VII, 27 November 2012), lot 502 (hammer 8500 CHF on an estimate of 300 CHF).

Culminating in the Oudewater Massacre (Dutch Oudewaterse moord), the siege of Oudewater demonstrates the brutality that often accompanied sieges. In 1568, a Spanish garrison was stationed at Oudewater. On 19 June 1572, a small Dutch force took the city and convinced its inhabitants to join the Dutch Revolt. Following his capture of Buren as part of the Spanish attempt to put down the Dutch Revolt, Gilles van Berlaymont besieged Oudewater for thirteen days. His capture of the town resulted in a bloodbath where many inhabitants were put to the sword, while many others set fire to their own houses to keep their possessions out of the hands of looting soldiers As much as half of the population may have perished in this event. Following Oudewater, van Berlaymont moved on to besiege Schoonhoven.

The States of Holland and West Friesland in 1615 authorized an annuity to be paid to the survivors still living, a payment which continued until 1664 when the last survivor died. An annual commemoration of the massacre, which began in 1608, is held on the first Sunday, on or after 7 August.