Women's Revolt in Amsterdam

Hundreds of pious women carrying spades came to the building site on the corner of Rokin and Wijde Kapelsteeg in Amsterdam on 31 May 1531. The municipal government wanted to build a wool assayist's office on the ground. The women considered it holy ground as it had been a churchyard in bygone days. They refilled the holes dug for the erection of the new building and rummaged the building site. Four leading ladies were punished and exiled.