Most people know of De Wallen, even if they don’t
recognise the name. Amsterdam’s red-light district is a popular tourist
attraction. The area has been home to the city’s prostitutes since medieval
times. It is conveniently close to the city centre, harbour and shipyard, situated
between Dam Square, and the burgwal (defensive wall with a canal), from
which the name derives.
Before the Dutch won independence from Spain in 1581, Amsterdam’s
Catholic authorities tried to curb trade by forbidding priests and married men
from entering the area. After independence, De Wallen’s streets became even
more crowded and notorious, as the city grew to be the wealthiest in northern
Europe. The now Protestant authorities passed new laws to make prostitution
illegal, but only succeeded in moving it indoors to the benefit of brothel
owners. Despite the predominant Dutch Reformed Church’s emphasis on godly
behaviour, there were still plenty of willing customers.
My protagonist Alexander Baxby visits 1600s De Wallen
in my novel Naming the Dead, hoping to find a missing Englishwoman. He
is taken by another female immigrant who knows several others working there. Having
met prostitutes and a brothel administrator during my years as a part-time prison
chaplain, I knew their stories are often more varied than people might imagine.
However, drugs are a regular theme. Now Amsterdam is associated with cannabis, whereas
tobacco and opium were arriving from the West and East Indies in Baxby’s time.
Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at US Link and UK Link