A Year: Day to Day Men: 15th of May

Awaiting an Answer

On May 15, 1492 German mercenaries kill 232 people during the Bread and Cheese Revolt in Holland.

The Bread and Cheese Revolt was an uprising of people from Kennemerland and West-Friesland in the province Holland in the year 1491-1492. The name “bread and cheese rebellion” comes from the emblems on the rebel banners. The main reason for the rebellion was a tax raise; but an economic crisis and a food shortage stimulated the rebellion. The tax oppression and the garrison policy of John III of Egmont, the steward of Maximilian I, who had secured the Lowlands by marriage to Mary of Burgundy, further inflamed the discontent of the suffering citizens..

The rebels attacked several cities and killed the most hated tax collectors including the bailiff of Kennemerland, Claes van Ruyven in the town of Haarlem. The peasants with the support of the urban lower classes seized the cities of Hoom, Alkmaar, and Haarlem. The rebels also stormed and destroyed two castles.

Count John III van Egmont first tried to quell the uprising by making some promises to the rebels but they were not impressed. John III called in an imperial army under the control of Albert III, Duke of Saxony, and Governor of the Netherlands. The imperial army defeated the rebel army on the cemetery of Heemskerk.

Two hundred and thirty-two peasants were killed by mercenaries at the city of Alkmaar in the Netherlands during the uprising. The captured leaders of the rebellion were executed and the cities which supported the rebellion were stripped of their city walls, received fines, and had garrisons installed in their midst.