Johan And Cornelis De Witt

In 1672, during the Dutch Republic’s so-called disaster year, Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, effectively the prime minister, and his brother Cornelis became hated targets of Orangist fury after military defeats and political unrest. On August 20 in The Hague, Cornelis was about to leave for exile on trumped-up treason charges when Johan came to the jail to help him, and members of the civic militia dragged both men outside and killed them.

The mob stripped and mutilated their corpses, hung them on a public gibbet near the Gevangenpoort, and by several accounts roasted and ate parts of their bodies. The killers were never prosecuted.

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