Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer by Frans Hogenberg.

Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (1526-1588) was a wood merchant of Haarlem, Netherlands She was the daughter of Simon Hasselaer and Grietje Koen. When the city was besieged by the Spanish, she led a company of women in defence of the city, becoming famous for bravery. Around the date the city surrendered, she was able to flee.

By resolution of 2nd September 1574, she became Weighing House Master and Collector of Peat in the city of Arnemuiden. In 1577, she is mentioned in documents as an inhabitant of Leyden. Not long after, she bought a ship to resume her trade as wood merchant. In May 1589, her daughters sued skipper Lieven Hansz from Holstein for this ship. During the trial, it was proven that she left port for Norway in 1588 and disappeared. Lieven Hansz stated that he had bought the ship in Flensburg from the port official charged with selling deserted ships. It is therefore often assumed that she died at the hands of pirates, but other theories exist also.

Her name lives on in colloquial Dutch. Originally, it stood for female bravery, but as social role models developed, the word kenau came to stand for "shrew".

References

• Fr., de Witt Huberts "Het Beleg van Haarlem". The Hague, 1944

See also

• Siege of Haarlem

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