The Book Shelf: When the Dutch Ate Their Prime Minister on This Day in History

Sunday, August 20, 2023

When the Dutch Ate Their Prime Minister on This Day in History

This day in history: Prime Minister Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelius were killed and partially eaten by a mob on this day in 1672.

"With his power in tatters after having been forced to resign, Johan went to visit Cornelius in prison at the Hague on August 20th, 1672. Unwittingly he walked straight into a trap. At the prison, an organized lynch mob awaited his arrival. 'Everyone wanted to draw a drop of blood from the fallen hero and tear off a shred from his garments,' wrote the French writer, Alexander Dumas, in The Black Tulip.

The frenzied mob literally ripped the brothers apart. According to Dumas: “Then came the most dastardly scoundrels of all, who had not dared to strike the living flesh. Cut the dead piece, and then went about town selling small slices of the bodies of Johan and Cornelius at ten sous a piece.”

"Legend has it that the mob ripped the flesh from the bodies and began selling and eating the remains. Limbs and clothes belonging to the brothers were apparently sold to bystanders in auctions, while pieces of the bodies were proudly put on display in pubs. Believe it or not, some of Johan’s and Cornelius’ body parts still survive today and are preserved in the Historical Museum of The Hague where the prison gates stand." Source

"The attack might seem far-fetched, but eyewitness accounts and art inspired by the event all have the De Witt brothers looking quite flayed. In fact, people used to snatch 'souvenirs' from executions all the time. Souvenirs of the fleshy variety. Consider Oliver Cromwell’s head, which was placed on a 20-foot spike long after his death. Or the commoners who reportedly dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of King Charles I after his execution. Hell, you can pop into any large European cathedral and find at least one saintly fingernail or incisor. But as far as I can tell, this is the only case of mob mania resulting in political execution turned feast." Source