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Russian Flax/Hemp Bale Seals
Oudewater in the Netherlands
OUDEWATER, Netherlands. The origin of the town of Oudewater is obscure and no information has been found concerning the first settlement of citizens. It is also difficult to recover the name of Oudewater. An explanation is that the name is a corruption of old water-meadow. Oudewater was an important border city between Holland and Utrecht, of great strategic importance.
In the 16th and 17th century, Oudewater was an important producer of rope. In the surrounding area, hemp was cultivated. There still is a rope manufacturing plant and a rope museum in the town. The Rope Museum is set up in an old shed of a rope walk. It tells the story of hemp and rope.Oudewater was renowned as a witch finder town. People from all over Europe made the journey to Oudewater to
avoid prosecution as a witch. After the weighing, they received an official certificate proclaiming them not a witch. Nobody was ever found to be an actual witch in Oudewater, though the "weighings" were still a popular public spectacle.
Certificates would state that "the body weight is in proportion to its build." The reasoning behind this is the old belief that a witch has no soul and therefore weighs significantly less than an ordinary person; this distinction would supposedly allow the witch to fly on a broomstick.
From our point of view Oudewater has the distinction of providing the oldest dated Rein Hemp seal that we have on the database. 1731.
Lots of 18th century hemp seals have recorded by Caio Haars our project member in Oudewater. See numbers IDS 1721, IDS 1722, IDS 1723, IDS 1724, IDS 1725, IDS 1726, IDS 1727, IDS 1732, IDS 1735, IDS 1736, IDS 1737.
There is an excellent site on Dutch Cloth Seals at
Inside the Museum
Rope walk in the factory
The Rope Walking Machine
Making rope with many strands
