N for New Amsterdam

 

A windmill dominated the Manhattan skyline

When I toured Ellis Island and the US Federal Bank vaults, before starting my writing career, I did not know the origins of New York’s distinctive traits. The financial capital and historic ‘melting pot’ was originally a Dutch colony, called Amsterdam in the New Netherlands or New Amsterdam. The Republic established the settlement in 1624, to protect the Dutch West India Company’s fur trade and establish a foothold on the coast already home to English Puritans and Pilgrims.

As with its namesake on the River Amstel, New Amsterdam welcomed migrants fleeing poverty and persecution elsewhere. French Huguenots and Norwegian Lutherans were among the first to raise families there. By 1643, records show 18 languages were spoken in the original streets.

Manhattan became an island of opportunity as settlements spread north from its southern tip. In his book Amsterdam, Russell Shorto tells the story of Joris and Catalina, who rented a cow when they arrived, and went on buy land for a hamlet which subsequently grew into Brooklyn.

The British took the settlement after the Restoration, as part of Charles II plan to bring order to the mainly Cromwell-supporting colonies. Although renamed New York, after the King’s brother, the city maintained its reputation business and finance and trade, and welcoming immigrants. The Holland Society of New York, founded in 1885, continues to preserve the memory of its origins. About – Holland Society

Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Naming the Dead, set in early 1600s Amsterdam, is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at Karen Haden Books

M for Jan Munter

 

The Anabaptist biscuit maker who assisted the Mayflower Pilgrims and the Dutch Navy 

When researching Naming the Dead, I was intrigued by Jan Munter, a member of the Mennonite group of Anabaptists from the Waterland region, north of Amsterdam. With an interesting mix of characteristics, Munter did not fit my preconceived ideas about that religious group.

Often called the radical wing of the Reformation, Anabaptists spread across northern Europe after the failure of the Peasants War in 1526. Loosely affiliated congregations practiced believers’ baptism and encouraged ordinary men and women to interpret the bible themselves. After a bloody massacre at Munster, when Anabaptists briefly took power, they became strong advocates for separation from state authorities, non-violence and peace.

Wealthier and better educated Protestants often looked down on Anabaptists, but Jan Munter seems to have become a prosperous and well-respected member of Amsterdam’s business elite. He won lucrative contracts to supply ships biscuits to Dutch Navy, not a typical pacifist activity, and provided a home to English Separatists after they fled into exile in 1607/8.

There is no evidence that Munter knew any of the future Mayflower Pilgrims and English Baptists before they arrived. He may have been influenced by the Mennonites own’ suffering. Before the Alteration, when Amsterdam turned Protestant, Mennonite men were executed in Dam Square, whilst the women and children were tied in sacks and thrown in the River Ij.

Although the closely related Amish are probably better known, Mennonites still emphasise peace and tolerance today. There is more information here Home - Anabaptist Mennonite Network

Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Naming the Dead, set in early 1600s Amsterdam, is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at Karen Haden Books

 

 

L for Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

 

'Dutch Golden Age’ Amsterdam meets Ancient Rome

Previously in A for Art, I wrote how contemporary art helped me research Naming in Dead set in early 1600s Amsterdam. The Dutch Masters depicted the everyday lives of the growing middle class, their tastes in clothes, interior design and pastimes. A different type of image helped me gain insights into the way Amsterdammers saw themselves at that time, one resembling a movie story-board.

I felt sure the city authorities would have wanted to organise a local celebration to mark the signing of the Twelve Years’ Truce with Spain in 1609, and eventually found this picture of the play they staged in Dam Square. The central image shows smart citizens, in capotain hats, bonnets and cloaks, clustering round an enormous stage adorned with sculptures of Roman gods. The outer images capture scenes from the dramatized life of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last King of Rome.

Clearly, Amsterdam’s Reformed Protestants were not as austere and prudish as their English Puritan counterparts are often portrayed. Tarquinius’ life would have been a lurid spectacle, with brutal portrayals of patricide, kidnap, rape and suicide.

Also, this choice suggests the city saw itself as establishing a new age, similar in significance to the dawn of the Roman Republic. With less central control than in neighbouring monarchies, the Dutch Republic’s political system was enabling Amsterdam’s middle class to thrive in an unprecedented, confident way. 

Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Naming the Dead, set in early 1600s Amsterdam, is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at Karen Haden Books

 

 

                                                                                

 

K for Sinterklaas

 

Sinterklaas brought presents to Catholic and Protestant children, despite eighty years of war between the two sides

When researching Naming the Dead, I was surprised to discover that the Dutch Republic continued to celebrate a Catholic saint after winning independence from Spain. This seemed a strange anomaly, given religious differences between them fuelled the Eighty Years War. Dutch children continued to receive presents, supposedly from Sinterklaas, on his feast day of 6 December. I included a suitably snowy Sinterklaas scene in Naming the Dead, and tried to learn more.

The original Saint Nicholas is believed to have been a Roman Empire-era bishop from Myra, in modern day Turkey. Concerned that the daughters of a poor merchant might be sold into slavery, Nicholas provided dowry money anonymously. Subsequently, he was recognised by the Catholic church, becoming the patron saint of sailors, merchants and children.

Superstitious sailors and merchants may have played a role in Saint Nicholas’ subsequent popularity in the Protestant Dutch Republic. Also, the official Dutch Reformed Church did not enforce conformity to the same extent as in England. If independently-minded ‘middling’ families wished to pass on Sinterklaas traditions, it would have been harder to stop them.

From 1624, Dutch settlers took the Sinterklaas tradition to their most famous colony New Amsterdam. After acquiring the colony in 1664, the English renamed it New York and changed Sinterklaas to Santa Claus. Without the Dutch Republic’s contribution, the present-giving saint would not have reached the English-speaking world.

Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Naming the Dead, set in early 1600s Amsterdam, is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at Karen Haden Books . 

 

 

                                                                                

 

J for Sephardic Jews

Ginger pastries, conversos and the Spanish Inquisition

After the Alteration in 1578, when Amsterdam turned Protestant, the city provided a home for immigrants escaping persecution and poverty elsewhere in Europe. Sephardic Jews flocked there from Spain and Portugal, particularly after 1609 when the authorities lifted their embargo on foreign travel. Many exiles were conversos - families the Inquisition had forced to convert to Catholicism on point of death.

This so-called Portuguese Nation lived alongside other immigrant communities, on overcrowded reclaimed islands outside the city walls. The largest Vloonburg was located to the south of present day Jodenbreestraat, on the site of Waterlooplein transport hub.

By 1614 there were around 164 families. Rabbis managed to acquire the first synagogue and a burial plot.  Miriam Bodian provides a detailed picture of the challenges they faced in her book Hebrews of the Portuguese, which I used when researching Naming the Dead. Gradually, the conversos came to a new understanding of their complex heritage, Jewish beliefs and practices.

Amsterdam’s Jewish Museum charts the story of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews who arrived later from eastern Europe, plus more recent experiences of Anne Frank and others during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The museum café is said to serve gemberbolus (ginger-studded pastries) which I would like to try. In Naming the Dead, my fictional character Raphael Barr, an elderly Jewish patient, makes his living baking these using his late wife’s recipe from Spain.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery 2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

 

I for Little Ice Age

 

When temperatures plummeted in 1600s Europe, the Dutch put on their skates

At times, I’m envious of authors whose novels are set in sunny Mediterranean coastal resorts. Writing about warm places through the winter months, must provide a welcome escape. The weather is usually bad in my Alexander Baxby mysteries, as Europe experienced a significant drop in temperatures in the 17^th century. Unusual weather patterns are said to have developed after volcanic eruptions in the Far East caused global climate change.

Rivers, canals and coastal waters froze. Frost fairs were held on the River Thames from 1608, something it is hard to imagine now. Poor Norwegians migrated south, no longer able to survive at home. Crops failed and people died, contributing to the misery of the Thirty Years’ War and general sense of doom. It is not surprising that those reading printed bibles in their own languages, equated conditions with the apocalyptic prophecies in the Book of Revelation.

The so-called Little Ice Age brought some benefits for the Dutch. With mostly low-lying land, even a modest reduction in sea level reduced the risk of flooding, particularly in cities such as Amsterdam which was constructed on wooden piles sunk into mud. The Dutch Masters painted beautiful wintry scenes of people skating. Using wooden platforms with blades rather than special boots, many learnt to move at speed along the frozen canals. The Netherlands still excels at skating sports at the Winter Olympics.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery 2) is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

H for Holy Place

 

Before tulips and windmills, Amsterdam was famous for miracle cures

After the Alteration, when Amsterdam turned Protestant in 1578, the city received immigrants escaping persecution and poverty elsewhere. When researching Naming the Dead, I was intrigued to learn that the city had a much longer history of welcoming foreigners. From 1345, Catholics came from all over Europe to visit its Heilige Stede (or Holy Place), where a miracle was said to have occurred.

In March of that year, a priest was called to a home in Kalverstraat to administer the last rites to a dying man. Afterwards, he threw up on a bowl and a maid tipped the contents in the fire before leaving him for the night. In the morning, she was amazed to find the bread intact, perfectly preserved, and her master healed.

The authorities quickly authenticated this as a miracle, and built a chapel on the site. They introduced an annual festival to commemorate the event. Pilgrims flocked to the city, along a ‘Holy Way’ connecting it to the lakes and rivers to the south and west. Even Holy Roman Emperors came, as Amsterdam’s reputation grew, bringing economic benefits to those who ran businesses in the city.

The supposedly miraculous bread disappeared after the Alteration. Catholic nuns continued to venerate its memory whilst living on nearby Bejinhof island. Otherwise, people were attracted by Amsterdam’s economic opportunities and religious toleration, no longer by miracle cures.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery 2) is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link 

 

 

G for Golden Age

 

'Golden Age' Amsterdam proved an exciting setting for a murder mystery 

After declaring independence from Spain in 1581, the seven northern-most low country provinces formed the Dutch Republic, with its political centre in The Hague. Amsterdam played a key role economically and culturally, as the new nation grew to eclipse its neighbours in engineering, wealth, trade and art, during the so-called Dutch Golden Age. 

Back then, the Zuider Zee would have teamed with ships converging on Amsterdam’s busy quay. The Dutch built the best ones in the world, using windmills to power saws to cut the wood. Enormous fluyts unloaded exotic spices from the Indian Ocean. Smaller vessels brought furs, copper and timber from the Baltic, woollen cloth and leather from England, and fish from the North Sea. All were taken to the market in Dam Square, where they were sorted, weighed, sold and reloaded with impressive efficiency. Amsterdam housed the headquarters of the Dutch East and West India Companies, and the world’s first stock exchange. A single shipment of spices could make investors rich.

The increasingly wealthy Dutch middle-class bought prestigious brick canal houses, and commissioned artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer whose work we still admire. With the highest literacy rate in Europe, the population read copious quantities of books and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects. One of the world’s first newspapers was published in Amsterdam in 1616, and the Jewish philosopher Spinoza was born there in 1632.

With colonies stretching from Japan and Indonesia, through Cape Town, to the Americas and Caribbean, at one point it must have felt like the Dutch hegemony would never end. Yet, the Republic was declining from the 1660s, trading in Asian slaves and gradually losing ground to Portugal, England and France. Nevertheless, this cannot take away the remarkable achievement of the seven low country provinces, nor their suitability for a gripping murder mystery.

Naming in Blood is available from Sharpe Books on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

 

F for Fish

 When researching my second Alexander Baxby novel Naming the Dead, set in early 17^th century Amsterdam, I talked with lots of people from the Netherlands about their country’s history. However much or little they knew about the so-called Dutch Golden Age, most wanted to know if I mentioned herrings. Like their neighbours, they have eaten cod and other North Sea species since medieval times, but herrings became a particular Dutch favourite and important export.

The country’s fisherman discovered a different way of preserving herring soon after they were caught, which improved the flavour and meant they could be sold at a higher price. By the time of my novels, the Dutch herring fleet was the largest in the world, typically setting off for the North Sea fishing grounds in late spring and returning in late summer. 

Whole families put to sail in buss boats, with distinctive high foremasts and rounded fronts, then transferred their catch to larger factory ships for processing. Dutch warships accompanied the fleet to protect it from Dunkirker pirates and other rivals. The herring industry’s increasing importance to the Dutch economy led to improvements in ship-building and naval expansion too.

Fish were transported back to Amsterdam, with many packed at the tapering Haringpakkerstoren (Herring Packers Tower) at the western extremity of the harbourfront. Although no longer standing, the landmark features in many paintings from the Dutch Golden Age.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

 

E for English Exiles

 

In the 1600s, small boats carried migrants across the Channel in the opposite direction

With illegal immigrants currently crossing the channel to England, it is easy to forget the flow was once in the opposite direction. From Elizabethan times, Englishmen and women boarded boats to escape the country’s strict religious conformity laws. Attending Church services was mandatory. Separatist believers lost their property, their liberty and even their lives because they wished to follow a more communal style, with both male and female members participating and voting on key decisions.

Amsterdam became the preferred destination after the Dutch Republic won independence from Spain in 1581. Most famously, in 1607 a group from the Nottinghamshire village of Scrooby, led by postmaster William Brewster and pastor John Robinson, were arrested and imprisoned in Boston Guildhall for trying to leave the country without a licence. Eventually successful, these pioneers moved to Leiden, then sailed to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620.

Undoubtedly, the Mayflower Pilgrims were influenced by their time in Amsterdam, where they lived amongst Huguenots, Anabaptists, Sephardic Jews and Muslims escaping forced conversion in Spain. There were hundreds of other English Puritans and Independents too, including former neighbours John Smith and Thomas Helwys who formed the first Baptist church. All were allowed to follow their own beliefs and practices provided they were discreet. Amsterdam provided a level of freedom unimaginable back home.  

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

 

D for De Wallen

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

 

 

C for Canals

Before starting to research my latest Alexander Baxby mystery Naming the Dead, I wondered why Amsterdam’s inhabitants bothered to dig canals. Although water provided a useful way to transport heavy goods, I found it hard to believe such advantages outweighed the cost and inconvenience. Why not just build better roads? I discovered the history of the canals was very different than I assumed.

Originally, the region was marshland. Farmers first dammed the River Amstel, near its entry into the Ij, to prevent silt from the salt-water Zuider Zee clogging the fresh water side. Gradually, engineers reclaimed more land by driving wooden piles into the ground, using similar techniques to those in Venice, and formed an outer line of canals below the medieval walls, to provide the protection of a moat.

After the Dutch Republic won independence from Spain in 1581, Amsterdam’s strategic position helped it grow into the most important trading centre in northern Europe. With insufficient space for the growing population and their businesses, the city authorities embarked on an ambitious expansion program. They reclaimed more land to build an outer line of bastion walls and designed the distinctive concentric rings of canals and narrow houses we still admire today. Many of the original wooden piles are still in use.

The Grachtenmuseum, or Museum of the Canals, provides a useful source of more information.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at

UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FCY3QDT1

US: www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCY3QDT1

 

 

B for Begijnhof

Dutch Republic Amsterdam was very different from England during Queen Elizabeth and King James I's reigns

Stepping into the Begiijnof in Amsterdam is like returning to an earlier time. The former island is greener and more peaceful than the rest of the modern city centre. Most of the buildings around the central courtyard are privately owned, but the famous Het Houten Huys is open to the public. It is one of Amsterdam’s few remaining wooden dwellings which predate the familiar seventeenth century brick houses which line the city’s canals.

During the early 1600s, when Naming the Dead is set, the Bejinhof was even more secluded than now, being accessed by a single bridge. The name derives from the French word béguinage which means a convent or religious community of women. After the 1578 Alteration, when Amsterdam became Protestant, the city authorities allowed Catholic nuns to continue living on the island. Unusually for that time, they were allowed to follow their own beliefs and practices, providing they were discreet. Later, Amsterdam would extend this principle to more religious groups, including Jews and Muslims.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link

 

 

A for Art

Dutch Republic Amsterdam was very different from England during Queen Elizabeth and King James I's reigns

When researching my Alexander Baxby Mystery Naming the Dead, I learnt how art was popular amongst Amsterdam’s growing middle class. It provides us with a window into their lives.

During the early 1600s, Amsterdam was the most prosperous city in northern Europe. Increasingly wealthy burghers and guildsmen bought elegant brick canal houses, which gradually replaced older wooden ones, and commissioned paintings to adorn their walls. No longer constrained by the tastes of the nobility, the new Dutch style depicted their families, interior design and fashion choices, similar to the way people post Instagram images today.

Amsterdam attracted artists due to the burgeoning market. Rembrandt moved there, where he produced his iconic Night Watch. This can be seen in the city’s Rijkmuseum, along with many other examples of Dutch Masters’ work. Many paintings give wider insights into Dutch agriculture, industry, commerce and political life too. 

You can read more in this Washington National Gallery article:

National Gallery of Art - Painting in the Dutch Golden Age - A Profile of the Seventeenth Century

Personally, I find the Dutch Masters' paintings help me relate to ordinary people in the seventeenth century. The English Puritans, who shared a similar Reformed faith at that time, are often portrayed as drab and miserable, but their Dutch counterparts appear more human, with similar preoccupations to ourselves.

Naming in Blood (Baxby Mystery #2) is available on Kindle Unlimited and to buy at UK Link and US Link