C.J. Underwood

CJ Underwood

When I moved to the Netherlands in the 1990s to work on a novel, I first encountered the legend of Kenau Hasselaer. I overheard a conversation between a Dutch professor and his students at the University of Leiden’s library, in which he talked about the legend of Kenau Hasselaer. With great enthusiasm he told the folktale of this remarkable woman, who’d amassed an army of 300 women to fight the invading Spanish on the walls of Haarlem, during the bitter seven-month siege of 1572-3. Just like his students I was immediately captivated. He expanded upon the sixteenth century Dutch Revolt against the Spanish King Phillip II’s army, which inspired one woman’s fight to preserve the lifestyle that her family had nurtured for generations.

The professor recited the legend of this spirited aristocrat who’d trained her women soldiers to fight the Spanish back from the walls of Haarlem, who shot silver pistols and refused to wear armour.

From the moment Kenau entered my consciousness, I determined to learn every possible detail about this inspirational female character, but to my great surprise I learned that in the Netherlands the name Kenau was synonymous with the derogative, Bitch. There was nothing contemporary to to read about her, at least not in English, so I set about writing my own story, which has evolved into Kenau and the True History of the Siege of Haarlem.

For more information on this fascinating woman, Haarlem and the Dutch Revolt, please visit my website and blog.