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Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato

Fake news and real cannibalism: a cautionary tale from the Dutch Golden Age

Capture of Johan de Witt, 1672. Rijksmuseum

The Dutch Golden Age, beginning in 1588, is known for the art of Rembrandt, the invention of the microscope, and the spice trade of the Dutch East India Company. It ended a little under a century later in a frenzy of body parts and mob justice.

In 1672, enraged by a fake news campaign, rioters killed the recently ousted head of state Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis. The mob hung them upside down, removed their organs, ate parts of the corpses, and sold fingers and tongues as souvenirs.

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