Biography
Willem Heythuijsen was born in Weert, a small city in Dutch Limburg that borders the town of Heythuysen. He was a successful cloth merchant of Haarlem who lived on the Oude Gracht (now called Gedempte Oude Gracht). Like many other merchants of Haarlem, he owned a summer house with a garden facing the Spaarne river, outside the city walls. adjacent to the Haarlemmerhout park. He was known as an easygoing bachelor who enjoyed a joke. The keystone above the door of his home hangs behind the Frans Hals Museum today and shows the legend of The Ray-stabbers of Weert, which tells of a load of fish from Zandvoort brought to Weert. One of the fish fell off the cart, and it was a white stingray that a man found and claimed it was a ghost. It was brought to the city hall of Weert where the guard was called out to stab it. This caused quite a commotion before the fish-seller could reassure the people that it was just a fish. The legend probably served to assure people of Haarlem that fish from the sea could be shipped as far as Weert without spoiling, but it is possible also that it is a play on words, since rog is the same word in Dutch for rye bread and stingray.
Read more about this topic: Hofje Van Willem Heythuijsen
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