Political struggle depicted on mural in city centre: ‘All Nijmegen was rocked by these murders’

11 November 2024 Research news item

Nowadays you can hardly imagine it, but between 1702 and 1705 a number of political murders were committed in Nijmegen. These were the bloody depths of the so called ‘Plooierijen’, which have recently been captured in a mural on Ganzenheuvel, as part of the Waalpaintings project. ‘You can't just depict a decapitated mayor in the middle of the city centre.'

Five hanged men in front of the town hall windows and a decapitated mayor. Thus ended the political power struggle that raged in Nijmegen in the early eighteenth century and spread to other cities as well. After stadtholder Willem III died in 1702, a group of influential Nijmegen families saw an opportunity to exercise political power again. At the hands of Willem III, they had been excluded from administrative functions for more than 25 years, and this was against the grain of many Nijmegen citizens.

Banished mayor

After the death of William III, a turbulent period known as the Plooierijen began. The Nijmegen regent families excluded from political office (the New Plooi) revolted against the sitting administrators (the Old Plooi). ‘For three years, they tugged at each other for power, which ended up being hard,' explains historian Erika Manders. In 1705, at the instigation of exiled mayor Willem Roukens, supporters of the Old Plooi stormed into the town hall to regain power. 'This failed and in retaliation, five men were hanged in front of the windows of the town hall. Mayor Willem Roukens was beheaded the next day without a noteworthy trial.'

Although the power struggle in the early eighteenth century had a major impact on the city and its inhabitants, little is known to most Nijmegen citizens anno 2024 about the Plooierijen. Reason for Manders and her colleagues to bring this history back to life. This as part of the Waalpaintings project. Waalpaintings aims to make Nijmegen's rich but often no longer visible city history visible again in a series of fifteen murals.

Oyster shells through windows

Manders continues: 'All sorts of things happened in those years. In 1702, the French invaded Nijmegen again. That surprise attack acted as a catalyst for political unrest,' Manders says. ‘The city council acted very reluctantly against the French and eventually the attack was repelled with the help of the citizens of Nijmegen, who broke open the armoury because the key had been lost.’ After the repulsed attack, the dissatisfaction of many citizens of Nijmegen with the incumbents increased.

Manders mentions another story that illustrates the unrest in the city. 'The story goes that Pieter Cornelisse Beeckman of the Oude Plooi was laughed at by a group of children. He then drew his sword at the children and fled into an inn, after which the windows there were smashed with oyster shells.'

It is stories like this that capture the imagination and have been given a place on the recently completed painting. ‘Of course, you can't just depict a decapitated mayor in the middle of the city centre - that would create quite a lurid image.’ So, after a brainstorming session with students from the HAN and Radboud University, a number of stories were combined from the period of the Plooierijen. Artist duo Doolhof (Dosa & Moris) then applied the painting.

The location chosen was the Ganzenheuvel in the centre of Nijmegen. 'For each painting, we choose a place related to the historical event being depicted. Around here, on the Priemstraat, lived Willem Vonk, a boatman who, as a supporter of the New Plooi, was closely involved in the Plooierijen.' More than 300 years after the Plooierijen, Roukensstraat and Vonkstraat lie fraternally side by side just outside Nijmegen's city centre. But as the new Waalpainting shows: ‘In reality, they could drink each other's blood.’

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Organizational unit: Faculty of Arts, Radboud Institute for Culture and History
Theme: History, Art & Culture