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The
history of Holland is mainly a history of water. Imagine that one thousand
years ago there was nothing here but inaccessible marshes. The nobility
urgently wanted farmers to develop the empty land, and was willing to pay
a high price for it: Unlike the rest of Europe, farmers got property
rights. Of course they had to pay taxes, 10 percent of the harvest, but
they were independent. The roots of democracy in Holland are in the fight
against water. Unique for the world, in the 12th century so called 'waterschappen'
were formed for general control on all matters concerning water, with
power exceeding the power of local nobility
 Gouda
wasn't famous for the quality of its midwives. The pay was so bad that
only those who were totally unfit stayed on.
To improve the quality of midwifery it became obligatory in 1730 that the
still-born children were reported by the midwife herself at city hall.
The results of this law weren't impressive.
Even as late as 1840 one in fourteen children died at birth, the number
for Holland as a whole was one in twenty-two.
In the seventeenth century already, quite a lot of hemp was grown in and
around Gouda.
The leaves of the hemp plant had to be battered to be used for the
fabrication of rope. This battering caused much noise and dust, therefore
it was not allowed within the city walls.
The only exception was the prison. The work was considered to be very
suitable for the inmates, and dust did not create a problem because
windows and doors were always locked. In 1569, Gouda was still a catholic
city; Faes had himself baptized again in Rotterdam because he thought that
his first baptism wasn't a truly Christian one.
When this came to the attention of the city council they asked him to
leave the city.
Faes did not comply.
He was arrested and brought before the lords of justice.
They gave him a simple choice:
Deny the new baptism or die.
Faes chose death.
They asked him to stand in the hallway and think it over. Faes still chose
death.
On the 31st of May 1570 he went to the gallows singing
'My God, where shall I go from here' He was strangled and burned. Two years
later Gouda wasn't a
catholic city anymore
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