Mechteld ten Ham

The witch trial which condemned ten Ham took place during a period of hardship for the city, which had suffered under plundering from Spanish troops and from the plague when the witch hysteria spread.

Ten Ham herself demanded to be put on trial; it was a custom to try an alleged witch by certain "ordeals", and ten Ham was convinced that the trial would prove that she was innocent.

She wrote to a known critic of witch trials, and thus refused to go through the ordeal of weight.

People accused her of making animals sick, spoiling crops and destroying marriages with magic.

She was found guilty of sorcery and sentenced to be burned alive at the stake.