Eel of the Dragoons

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Eel the Dragoons († before 1710 in Rotterdam ) was a woman in men's clothing who served as a soldier until she was killed in a fight. In the Dutch language of the soldiers, "eel" means field or military chaplain, but it is also a term for soldiers without a rank.

The identity of the woman could never be determined. It was only established that sometime before 1710 there had been a scuffle or brawl between soldiers in Rotterdam, in which one of the participants lost his life. The further circumstances are not known; the other participants fled. Upon closer examination of the body, it was found that it was a woman.

The stranger was not buried, but rather her body was transferred to the Rotterdam Medical School , where it was used in anatomy lessons . The corpse was subsequently taken to the attached Theatrum Anatomicum , where it was dismantled. Skin and organs were removed and dissected. The skeleton was placed on a horse's skeleton and the skin of the deceased was stuffed.

The German book and art collector Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach (1683–1734) reports on a guided tour through the anatomy room of the Theatrum Anatomicum on November 26, 1710:

“A stuffed and prepared skin of a woman who served as a dragoon for a long time and stabbed her comrades. She had a cap on which was sewn in yellow letters: all dragoons. "

He also noted:

"Upstairs there were various skeletons, including that of the female dragoons reported above, sitting on a skeleton of a horse."

Thirty years later, the skin and skeleton of eel were included in the official catalog of the sights of Rotterdam's anatomy. Under number 22 “Aal de Dragonder, staande in 't vel” and under number 33 “het geraamte van Aal de Dragonder, zittende op voornoemd couple, met een mes in de hand.” In 1817, the German doctor Eduard Meissner reported on the skeleton Eels on a horse, now in armor .

After the anatomy room was opened to the public from 1720 during the time of the fair, Eel the Dragoons became a well-known attraction in Rotterdam. When the Anatomy Collection was kept and partially sold, given and thrown away in 1828, the trail of the Dragoons' eel was lost.

literature

  • Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach: Strange journeys through Lower Saxony, Holland and Engelland . Part 3 (Ulm 1754) pp. 309, 312.
  • Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk: Een kijkje op Rotterdam in het begin of the eighth eeuw . Rotterdam's Jaarboekje (1890) 120.
  • Daniel de Moulin: De natuurhistorische verzameling in het voormalige Theatrum Anatomicum te Rotterdam . Rotterdam's Jaarboekje (1972) 132.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach: Strange journeys through Lower Saxony, Holland and Engelland . Part 3 ( Christian Ulrich Wagner II. , Ulm 1754) excerpt from the book, p. 309
  2. ^ Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach: Strange journeys through Lower Saxony, Holland and Engelland . Part 3 (Ulm 1754) Excerpt from the book, p. 312

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Eel of the Dragoons
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soldier
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
DATE OF DEATH before 1710
Place of death Rotterdam