Mechteld ten Ham

Statue of Mechteld ten Ham in 's-Heerenberg

The witch trial which condemned ten Ham took place during a period of hardship for the city, which had suffered under plundering from Spanish troops and from the plague when the witch hysteria spread. People wanted someone they could blame, and ten Ham was a person with different habits and a different personality. She made predictions about the future and about people's health.

Ten Ham herself demanded to be put on trial; it was a custom to try an alleged witch by certain "ordeals", and ten Ham was convinced that the trial would prove that she was innocent. One was the ordeal of weight. Another was the ordeal of water. The ordeal of weight was often easy to pass. She wrote to a known critic of witch trials, and thus refused to go through the ordeal of weight. When she was put on trial, however, her tactic proved a miscalculation. People accused her of making animals sick, spoiling crops and destroying marriages with magic. The authorities arrested her and tortured her until she confessed.

• Marigje Arriens