Nowadays, when someone is sentenced to death by hanging, it causes worldwide horror. About 5 centuries ago, however, every city in the Netherlands also had its own gallows. At least 5 people were hanged on those gallows every year. There were also many more gallows in Friesland. They were placed to emphasize sovereignty.
Other words for gallows
There are several words for the gallows. The device on which people were hung was also referred to as:
- Scaffold. The scaffold is actually the scaffolding on which the gallows hangs. Such a scaffold was generally located on a market square in the center of a city or village and many people often attended such an execution.
- Seesaw or seesaw bow occurs. The seesaw is that part of the gallows that was thrown open when someone stood on it. This caused the rope to become tight around the neck of the person sentenced to death. The seesaw was only introduced in the 18th century and did not exist before then. Nowadays, the expression ,on the ropes, is often used to describe someone who might be fired. But in the original sense it had a much more sinister meaning because back then it meant being about to be hanged.
- Kicking chair. Anyone who stood on the kicking chair was also put to death. The person in question was standing on a chair and it was kicked out from under him. People were also put on a cart and then the cart would move or an executioner would push the convict off a ladder so that the noose would be tight around the convict’s neck.
Gallows in Friesland in the late Middle Ages
The number of gallows in the late Middle Ages in Friesland is particularly striking. Between 1450 and 1500, about 40 gallows were erected in Friesland. This meant that all eleven cities and all 30 grietenijen (another word for municipality) had their own scaffold around 1500. This did not mean that more people were hanged from that moment on. In the sixteenth century, 4 to 5 people were hanged per year in the province of Friesland, which was most likely no more than in the previous century.
The gallows as proof of independence
The fact that more and more gallows were built in Friesland in the sixteenth century did not have to do with more crime, but rather with the fact that the municipalities wanted to indicate that they functioned completely independently. Cities and towns thus indicated that they were legally autonomous. Yet that feeling was often not real at all. The power did not lie with those grietenijs at all, but was decentralized. As a result, many gallows were built on which no one was ever hanged.
The gallows as a deterrent
The gallows, of course, was used as a means of actually sentencing to death. But it was also a means to deter people. A gallows in the village or city, fully visible to everyone, made it very clear what could happen if you did something that was not allowed. Furthermore, being hanged was considered dishonorable. TO make this even clearer, the gallows were placed in central places, visible to everyone. Usually along major waterways or on elevations. The gallows in Leeuwarder stood along the Harlingertrekvaart, where health insurer De Friesland is now located.
Other punishments at the time that resulted in death
Besides hanging, there were other ways to punish people for something they had done. These included:
- Radbraken. This involved breaking someone’s bones on a wooden wheel
- Heads. Someone was beheaded with a sword
- Quartering. Someone was pulled apart with a number of horses
When did the gallows disappear from the Netherlands?
Most of the gallows disappeared when the Habsburgs came to power. This was during the sixteenth century. Ameland kept its own gallows for a long time. It probably stood there until 1795. This was because Ameland was excluded from the Frisian region in 1515 and it remained independent, also referred to as Free Glory. The Ameland gallows stood between Hollum and Ballum on a high undiked salt marsh, as maps from that time prove.
Living on the Wipstrikallee
People who live on Wipstrikallee may not know why their street has that name, but they live in an area where a gallows once stood. But living in Galgenwaard or Galgendal also means that there was once a gallows in that area.