Mechteld ten Ham

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.

She was found guilty of sorcery and sentenced to be burned alive at the stake. This sentence was carried out on 25 July 1605. The last witch trials to take place in the republic were the Roermond witch trial, where 64 people were burned to death for sorcery in 1613.

• Marigje Arriens