The Burgher and the Whore: Prostitution in Early Modern Amsterdam by Lotte van de Pol

Author:Lotte van de Pol [Pol, Lotte van de]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Profits and punishments

Naturally all those involved were in it for the money. Of the 1,500 guilders collected from Paulus Annis, the correspondents were given 375 guilders each.The official share for such services was one-eighth, but a quarter was customary; the ‘outspoken damsel’ of D’Openhertige Juffrouw had negotiated payment of a quarter of the proceeds around

1681.54 The organizer of the ‘exploit’, Dirk van Dusseldorp, had nego- tiated in advance a reward of half the total, 750 guilders, while bawd and informer Poxy Anna was given 100 guilders and prostitute Wille- mijn Biesheuvel forty. The remainder will have been divided among those who had assisted them. In other instances too the sums specified ran into dozens, sometimes hundreds of guilders.Although a great deal of preparation time went into these ‘exploits’ and there were many people who had to be given their share, these were substantial sums of money to people in the lowest ranks of society.

The profits were considerable and so were the penalties. On 15 May, Poxy Anna and the Mussel were sentenced to stand on the scaffold with notices pinned to their chests, to twelve years in the Spin House, and to banishment for twenty-five years.Their husbands were not ar- rested.The other women involved received the usual punishments for prostitution. Willemijn Biesheuvel was heard only as a witness. Dirk had fled the city, and despite extensive efforts he was not caught.55 Schravenwaard’s officers were reprimanded; the two constables who had allowed him to escape and whom the court suspected of accepting pay-offs were suspended for six months.56 Finally, Jan Schravenwaard was sentenced. He was dismissed from his post, banished from the city for twelve years, and declared ‘dishonourable and inhabile’. He also had to pay back the 1,500 guilders extorted from Paulus Annis and reimburse all the costs of the proceedings against him and the others.

As far as the Confession Books are concerned, this is the end of the case, yet Bicker Raye writes in his diary:‘His colleague François Sper- mondt was removed from his post, also for roguish tricks.’ The Confes- sion Books make no mention of a case against Deputy Bailiff Spermondt, in fact he is nowhere named, but among the bailiffs’ pa- pers is a dossier headed ‘Documents in the case of H Timmerman versus the deputy bailiff, François Spermondt, accused of extortion‌‌

and convicted of it and removed from office, 15 May 1739’. It contains two lengthy depositions, dated 16 and 17 April, by Hendrik Timmer- man, a widower who had been caught in bed with a prostitute, and Abraham de Haan, his ‘very close friend’, who came to his aid on the fateful evening in question.57

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