Writer Simone van der Vlugt (56) has a new book out: The Stormy Sixteenth Century of Alkmaar and Surroundings. The born Hoornse has lived in Alkmaar for over thirty years. Her new historical novel is about her hometown, but actually tells about the entire province: the Eighty Years’ War, the battle against the Spaniards, the massacre at Naarden, the Battle of the Zuiderzee, the Siege of Haarlem and of course Alkmaar Relief.
For her book, Van der Vlugt delved into the archives and also helped with archaeological excavations in Alkmaar. “It is a novel based on historical facts. It follows, among other things, the Alkmaar influential Van Foreest family who were torn apart by faith, just like other families at the time.”
The religious battle between Catholics and Protestants, the Inquisition, the battle between the Frisians and West Frisians, the gruesome history of the Poor Clares monastery in Alkmaar, but also the Plague epidemic, made the sixteenth century a very violent time. How that happened and what traces of it we can still find, has been described by Van der Vlugt.
Watch and listen below to the conversation of NH Radio presenter Patricia Nagelkerke and Simone van der Vlugt about the history of our province: