By Kariin Sundsback

In 1652, the Norwegian widow Anna Otte was arrested in Ridderstraat, a street in the midst of the immigrant quarter near the harbour in east Amsterdam. She was accused and found guilty of robbery, receiving stolen goods and illegal subletting and received a one-year ban on residence in the city as punishment. The following year, Anna returned to Amsterdam and remarried to a Norwegian. She settled in the street she had lived in before her arrest, and maintained a large Norwegian social network in the city. She had Norwegian friends, acquaintances and relatives, who all lived in the same neighbourhood, but found it difficult to integrate into Dutch society. Anna, like most other immigrants, had believed that she was coming to the land of opportunity, where well-paid work was readily available, and she was assured that life in Amsterdam would be better than in Norway. This was unfortunately not always the case.

In the 17th century, the Netherlands experienced a period of strong economic and cultural growth. Trade flourished and there was a great demand for labour in the growing towns and on the ships of the East India Company. It was particularly the province of Holland with the capital Amsterdam that played a major role in the rapid development of the Netherlands. The biggest Dutch city and capital was known for its liberal immigration policy, religious tolerance and a huge supply of well-paid jobs. This meant that Amsterdam attracted large numbers of migrants from the Netherlands and abroad. This is especially evident in the marriage records; between 1600 and 1700, more than 160 000 immigrants in Amsterdam published marriage banns - a small proportion of the total number.

Tens of thousands of Norwegian men and women moved to the Netherlands in search of a better life, mostly from the southern and southwestern coasts of Norway. Considering the fact that the total population of Norway at the time was only about 500 000, and that most emigrants were from a relatively small area, the emigration of thousands of Norwegians was very noticeable in the Norwegian coastal communities. Although many people also moved from other parts of northern Europe to Amsterdam during this period, the emigration of Norwegians was unique, especially the emigration of Norwegian women, from both a European and Dutch perspective. It was not just women with their husbands or relatives who moved but, unlike female emigrants from other areas, there were many young unmarried Norwegian girls who travelled alone to Amsterdam.

The exact number of women who moved from Norway to the Netherlands in the early modern period is difficult to tell. A large proportion of them were among the poorest in society, and are therefore almost invisible in the historical source material. However, we can still find them in a few sources, such as marriage records and membership books of the Lutheran church in Amsterdam, which was the church of the Norwegian and German emigrants. Between 1600 and 1750, 4083 Norwegian women published the banns for their first marriage in Amsterdam. Widows who remarried are not included. We also know that thousands of Norwegians, both men and women, joined the Lutheran church. In a sample of 200 Norwegian immigrant women in the marriage records and membership lists from the Lutheran church, we see that only one-third of them are found in both sources. That means that the number of Norwegian women in Amsterdam must have been much higher than previously assumed.

Life histories

It could be difficult to be a Norwegian woman in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. Life was not always easy, and interrogation records from Amsterdam help us to understand how their suffering drove these women to crime. When people were arrested in Amsterdam, the interrogation was recorded in detail and these interrogations have been preserved in the city archives. They provide a unique insight into the lives of the accused because their personal stories were recorded in their own words. Although the tragic and often violent cases we find in these records are not necessarily representative of the lives of most Norwegians in Amsterdam, they provide a good understanding of how foreigners at the bottom of the ladder coped in an unfamiliar city. Let us now look more closely at how Norwegian women worked in Amsterdam, how they lived and how their social networks were formed.

Work in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, most women had to work to survive. Even if they were married, their husband’s salary was often insufficient to support the whole family. Being a maid was the most popular job for women, and in the year 1700, about 20 000 women worked as maids in the city. The population of Amsterdam was about 220 000 at this time, so this was a huge number of maids. Most were young and single, and they received board and lodging in addition to clothes and a small salary. They often had their own room, but many had to sleep in the kitchen if there was not enough space, and they had many different kinds of work in the household, both indoors and outdoors. It was hard work with long hours and little free time. The only time off was half a day on Wednesday afternoons and a few hours on Sundays to go to church.

The tragic story of Marit Roelofs from Bergen illustrates different aspects of the life of a maid in Amsterdam. In the summer of 1668, Marit arrived at the busy port of Amsterdam. She had travelled alone from Bergen, without family or friends, but may have known people in Amsterdam, with whom she could stay for a while and who could help her find work. She probably shared a room with several other Norwegian women in the immigrant quarter, and life was tough to begin with. Although she had only learned a few words and phrases of Dutch, she found a job as a maid in an inn and in the flat above in one of the side streets off Dam Square. But one Sunday night, a few months after she started the job, the whole house burnt down. Immediately after the fire, it became clear that 25 year old Marit had started it. After several days of tough interrogation, she admitted her guilt and explained why she had done it. She stated that she was all alone in Amsterdam and that the city had not lived up to her expectations. The work she had to do was much harder, and the wages lower, than she had expected. She also sorely missed her family and friends in Norway and was desperate to return home as quickly as possible. Because her contract stated that there was only one time of the year when she could resign, she had to think of some other way to return home. Marit had a friend in Amsterdam, a maid called Lijsbet, who worked at a hairdresser’s in a neighbourhood where Marit’s employer often went. One Sunday afternoon, when everyone was in church, Marit and Lijsbet were sitting, chatting and drinking a bottle of brandy in the kitchen in the flat above the inn. Marit and Lijsbet were also supposed to go to church, but they had managed to avoid this duty and enjoyed having the house to themselves. As they often did on Sundays, they were drinking brandy in secret and sitting together saying nasty things about their employers. Marit had a plan that she then shared with Lijsbet. If Marit could make sure that a small fire broke out in the house, in the confusion which would arise, she could steal some money and other valuables. While everyone was busy putting out the fire, she would sneak out of the house with the money, find a boat in the port and travel straight back to Bergen. After Lijsbet had gone home that Sunday afternoon, Marit set fire to some dry kindling wood in the attic, but to her great surprise, the fire spread so rapidly that she had no time to steal anything. She was arrested immediately. Marit was sentenced to death, never to see Bergen or her family again.

Living conditions in Amsterdam

Living conditions in Amsterdam, especially in the immigrant quarter near the port, were often meagre and tough. The area was known for its high crime rate, poverty, street prostitution and overcrowded houses. Every day saw new arrivals from other parts of the Netherlands and abroad looking for work and a cheap place to stay. There were so many immigrants in this area that they had to live squeezed up in small rooms. It was not uncommon to find up to four families living together in one room.

In the street Zeedijk in autumn 1666, in the middle of the immigrant quarter of Amsterdam, a man was found dead in the basement of the house where he lived. All the neighbours were summoned for questioning to find out if they had seen anything. When one of the neighbours, 28 year old Peter Pieters from Norway, was asked what had happened, he refused to answer, panicked and jumped out the window straight into the canal outside. He was picked up from the canal by the police and arrested as a suspect in the murder case. After a few days of interrogation, he admitted having brutally killed his neighbour. Peter’s story provides insight into the harsh life and living conditions of many Norwegian immigrants in Amsterdam. Peter had married Anne in Norway before coming to Amsterdam to find a better life. They rented a small room in Zeedijk, and Peter began working as a shoemaker’s apprentice nearby, while Anne found work as a cleaning lady in the house where they lived. The rooms in the house were rented out to various individuals and companies. An unmarried German called Jan lived in the basement. The ground floor had a sailmaker’s shop and a workshop, while on the first floor Peter and Anne had a small room, and a widow rented a room in the attic. There was probably a water pump outside the house, shared with various other neighbouring households. Each house usually had one small kitchen where everyone could cook. There was much contact between the residents of the house; Peter and Anne regularly drank beer with the widow in the attic, and Peter often went down to the basement in the evenings to drink brandy and smoke a pipe with Jan. Two weeks before Jan was murdered, Peter and Anne had a baby girl, their first child. Every evening, a Dutch midwife came to swaddle the baby to make it grow well and be healthy. This was not cheap for Anne and Peter, who did not earn much, and they began to get financial problems. One day, when Anne was cleaning Jan’s room in the basement, she found out that he had money and gold in a drawer. The drawer was locked and Jan always kept the key in his pocket. She told her husband about this, and he began to fantasise about what a good life they would have if they could get hold of that money. Anne was not convinced, but Peter could not get the gold out of his head. One night, after Anne and the baby had fallen asleep, Peter went down to the basement and drank brandy with Jan until the German passed out. But apparently, Jan was not drunk enough, because when Peter tried to steal the key to the drawer, he woke up, and Peter was caught in the act. They started to fight, and after a scuffle, Peter drew his knife and brutally cut Jan’s throat. Quickly Peter opened the drawer and took the money and gold up to his room where Anne and the baby were sleeping. He was distraught over what he had done, and woke up Anne and made her go down into the basement to remove all the blood and the traces, but it was of little use. Peter felt so guilty for what he had done and was so desperate that he jumped right out of the window into the canal when the police wanted to question him. He was sentenced to death, and Anne and their baby daughter were banished from Amsterdam.

Social networks in Amsterdam

The Norwegian immigrant women did not only keep in touch with their home country, but they also had contact with other Norwegians in the city. They often shared rooms in cheap guesthouses especially for foreigners. They lived close together in Amsterdam and married Norwegian and German sailors, were members of the Lutheran church and often spent the rest of their lives in the same neighbourhood. It must have been a closely-knit Norwegian community, but it must also have been difficult to climb the social ladder and integrate into Amsterdam society.

The next example shows how many Norwegian women in Amsterdam had contact with their homeland and other Norwegians in the city. When Stine Sijbrants and her husband, the sailor Lennert Jans, left Norway in 1650 to settle in Amsterdam, they had no idea what awaited them. The young couple settled in the immigrant quarter, but within two years Stine was widowed twice. It was not until her third marriage that her life improved a little. She found a new husband, a German who lived in the commercial centre of Amsterdam. Stine climbed the social ladder, which probably provided her with enough money to bring her younger sister to Amsterdam. Her sister found work as a maid, and in 1669 married a Norwegian sailor who lived nearby. They had a daughter, who was baptised in the Lutheran church. Stine was a witness for the marriage and the baptism. In 1673, Stine’s sister and her husband were arrested by the police in the centre of Amsterdam after being involved in a violent brawl with other Norwegians. The interrogations reveal that this entire group of Norwegians knew each other well, and had a tendency to argue and fight, often under the influence of liquor.

Conclusion

These stories illustrate the diverse fates of Norwegian women in Amsterdam. Thousands of Norwegian women left Norway for Amsterdam in early modern times. In this article, interrogations of Norwegian female criminals are used as the main source to obtain more information and to enhance our understanding of working conditions, living conditions and social networks. Although these women are not necessarily representative of all Norwegian emigrants in Amsterdam, their personal histories can provide us with valuable information about immigrant life in Amsterdam in the early modern period. We have seen that many women worked as maids and often had long days of hard work with little free time and low pay. In addition, maids were only allowed to terminate their contract on one occasion per year. We have also seen that emigrants in Amsterdam lived in a poor district near the harbour in the east of the city. This was an overpopulated area with much crime and street prostitution, and people living here often had no choice but to share a small room with many others. They worked nearby, married other Norwegians and Germans living in the same immigrant quarter, and it was difficult to learn the language and climb the social ladder. Norwegian women often maintained social networks with other Norwegians, both in Amsterdam and in Norway, and if they finances were adequate, they often helped other family members to emigrate to the Netherlands. Life in Amsterdam was not as easy as most emigrants had expected, but the large Norwegian network in the city must have given them a sense of community and belonging.