It’s the year 1672, and it is the Rampjaar or disaster year in The Netherlands. The Dutch Republic was attacked from four sides by France, England and the dioceses of Münster and Köln. A famous Dutch saying about the year goes the following: the people were irrational, the government desperate and the country beyond rescue. And that is when people were searching for a scapegoat. And the Dutch people found not one, but two of them.

Johan de Witt was the Grand Pensionary. He was the most powerful man in the Dutch Republic at that time. He was the political leader of the entire Dutch Republic when there was no stadtholder at the centre of power. He was also against stadtholders that were also in charge of the army. He and his fellow regents had abolished the stadtholder in the Dutch Republic forever, sort of. Plus, he did a few other things.

Then you have Johan’s brother, Cornelis de Witt. He was a regent and mayor in the city of Dordrecht, an official for the Heerlijkheid Putten, and bailiff of the Beijerlanden and, he brought the English fleet a devastating blow together with Admiral De Ruyter. But- he was not the equivalent of a prime minister (which some people seem to think). However, you’d think that people like him. And they did, until the disaster year.

On the other side of the brothers De Witt, you have the orangists- who wanted 22-year-old William the Third of Orange to lead the country that was attacked from several sides. William the Third was a great-grandson of William the Silent.

With the call for an Orange as the head of state, a statement was made against pensionary Johan de Witt and his regents. They were also accused, among other things, of neglecting the army and thus the defence of the entire country.

On the evening of June 21st, 1672, someone attempted to assassinate Johan de Witt. He was lightly injured. However, during this, the States of Holland appointed William the Third of Orange as a new Stadtholder. And so, De Witt resigned on August 4th.

Then, there was a huge production of political pamphlets. That led to people saying that only Prince William the Third could save the country. It led to a major hate campaign against Johan and Cornelis. There were tons of rumours, fake news and conspiracies circulating. So many, that Cornelis was charged with plotting an assassination attempt on Prince William the Third. He was locked up in the Gevangenpoort-  opposite of the Binnenhof in Den Haag, and tortured to confess guilt- but he refused to confess. Eventually, he was – without any evidence- sentenced to lifelong exile.

Johan de Witt was coming to get Cornelis out of prison since he was getting released after the verdict. When they wanted to leave, there was a big, angry crowd which was triggered by people in power, like Admiral Cornelis Tromp and some preachers. The ‘schutterij’ or citizens militia didn’t do anything – they were actually a part of it all. And then the two brothers were lynched. People also suspect that Stadtholder William the Third was complicit.

After the brothers were murdered, their bodies were hung upside down onto a pole at the Groene Zoodje, which was an execution spot in Den Haag. Their bodies were horribly mutilated. People cut their hearts out and thrown at their faces. They cut off body parts, including tongues, ears and fingers. Pieces of clothing and body parts were sold to bystanders. A finger for 75 to 100 cents, an ear 125 cents to 150. A toe 50 cents, etc. Pieces of the brothers were shown in bars, etc.

Is it possible that some people took a little bite of them? Yes. But is that what happened to their entire bodies? No. Most of their body were – according to sources – either given to dogs or kept and traded as some relics.

Nowadays, we still have some remains of them conserved in salt: the tongue of Johan de Witt and the dried finger of his brother Cornelis.