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Catherine to have two children at the same time from the same man, as it was impossible for
Margaret herself to get as many children as there are days in the year. Simon, Catherine's husband, had thereupon rejected her and she was sent to prison, where she prayed passionately for her reputation to be cleared. Then Margaret had given birth to 364 children, and Simon had had second thoughts and re-acknowledged Catherine as his wife. The 364 children are described as tiny as crabs and as having died after baptism in a large vessel.
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555:, showing Margaret of Henneberg giving birth, was on display. This painting was also commonly printed in the 17th century and is now in the abbey church of Loosduinen. It shows a kind of chest with drawers on the left, on which there is a bowl with many children, and a smoking chimney. In the center, midwives are busy with bed sheets and hot water; on the right in the bed, the mother is shown.
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between 1415 and 1535. Here, we find the legend in an embellished form. The mother of twins now has a name, Catherine, and is described as a personal enemy of
Margaret, who is described as the wife of Count John of Holland. According to Korner, Margaret had said that it was just as impossible for
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The earlier legend states that the children had been buried in the abbey church. In the 16th century, a story spread that they had been preserved as a curiosity. Battista
Fregoso, for example, asserted in 1565 that they were kept in a glass jar and that Emperor Charles V had picked up the bottle
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of 1654 and in numerous other publications. The two versions with different numbers of children were often generously blended. Those writers who opt for the version with the 365 children were often curious about the gender of the 365th child, since it seemed to be clear that the genders had been
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Wilhelmus of Heda confirmed, like
Spangenberg had earlier, that there was a monument for the dead children in the church, and also that the vessel in which they had been baptized, was still on display there. This vessel gradually became a pilgrimage destination for childless women who hoped to
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of 1741 pointed out that the fetus in the jar looked like the result of a miscarriage or an abortion. The thumb-sized baby was transferred to the
Natural History Museum in Copenhagen when the royal art collection was dissolved on 26 December 1826 and has since disappeared without a trace.
512:. But a few years later Jacobus Meursius acquired new devotional objects for the church, which had turned Protestant. He installed a bilingual plaque, in Latin and Dutch, which described the fate of Margaret and her 365 children, and in addition purchased two vessels in
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to his children. In this version of the story, the mother of the twins is a beggar. It has the additional details that the baptism was performed by Bishop Guido of
Utrecht, and that all the boys were given the name of John, and all the girls were named Elizabeth.
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From notes made by her widower, it is known that her death was unusual. Later, however, a legend was formed that she had died in childbirth after giving birth to no fewer than 365 children. An early form of this legend can be found in the 14th-century
332:. It gives a reason for the unusual multiple births. Margaret had on one occasion insulted a mother of twins with the assertion that these children would have to have two different fathers. As a punishment, she had been bewitched. The
664:. So if Margaret gave birth to twins on 26 March the number of children would have been equal to the number of days in the (new) year. This theory, that she gave birth to twins named John and Elizabeth, has been repeated many times.
385:. It mentions 364 children, half of them boys baptized in the name of John, the other half girls who would be named Elizabeth. He refers to an inscription in the church in Loosduinen confirming the story. The copy of the
265:, where they frequently stayed. Their eldest son, Herman, was born in 1250 and died young. He was buried in the church of Loosduinen. Margaret and Herman had two children who reached adulthood:
364:
In the 16th century, the legend spread more and more. Ludovico
Guicciardini, who had probably visited Loosduinen, published a detailed account of what happened in 1567. Irenaeus in his book
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Physicians lost interest in the case until the 1930s, when gynecologists Dr. Schumann and Dr. Brews, apparently independently, published the theory that it could have been a case of
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Physicians have been increasingly skeptical about the legend of
Margaret of Henneberg and her multiple birth. One of the last physicians to hold that the story could be true, was
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had bought this jar in
Belgium and given it to the king. Holger Jacobson, who created a catalog of the King's collection, agrees with this origin. An anonymous book entitled
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The fascination of the crowds waned in the late 18th century and the legend came to be perceived as rather silly. Nevertheless travellers continued to visit
Loosduinen.
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311:. It briefly reports that she died after giving birth to 364 sons and daughters. The children did not survive. They were all buried together in Loosduinen, where an
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has handwritten additional notes by the historian Nathaniel Carolus. According to these notes, some kind of monument for the deceased children existed in the church.
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visited Copenhagen in 1681, he was shown one of Margaret's children, which was kept in the curiosa cabinet in King Frederick III's art collection. Allegedly,
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Lindsay Ann Reid, "Monstrosity, Monument and Multiplication: 'The Lamenting Lady' Margaret of Henneberg (and her 365 Children) in Early Modern England," in
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and imputed her 360 children survived and their silver baptismal vessel was later exhibited in a church. The legend is also mentioned in
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254:. In an attempt to strengthen his influence in Germany, William had arranged a marriage between his sister and a German count.
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226:(1234 – 26 March 1276) was a Dutch countess, known for a famous medieval legend. She was a daughter of Count
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evenly distributed. A clearly 17th century solution to this dilemma was to explain that the last child was a
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In the late 16th century, the theme was taken up by a Spanish song writer, who sang about the fate of
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of Henneberg-Coburg. This marriage had political background, because Hermann had hoped to be elected
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By the 17th century, many travellers, especially from England, visited Loosduinen. Among them were
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Representations of the legend have been shown outside the church. For example, in the guest house
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Unnatural Reproductions and Monstrosity: The Birth of the Monster in Literature, Film, and Media
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mentions that 365 mouse-sized children were baptized in a large vessel and died afterwards.
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of 1276 and, like her first son, she was buried in the church of the abbey of Loosduinen.
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to replace the lost baptismal vessel. Pilgrimages to Loosduinen could then be resumed.
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when he gives the year of the miraculous birth as 1313 and stated Margaret was Irish.
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The memorabilia in the church in Loosduinen were destroyed in the 1572, during the
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was printed in London; it probably used these sources. The theme also appears in
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Another explanation was proposed by the Frenchman Struyk in 1758 in the journal
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and shows both the insult of the beggar and the baptism of many small children.
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Margaret of Henneberg giving birth, French print from the 17th Century, after
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Another early illustration of Margaret's fate can be found in the chapel of
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Incidentally, one result of the spread of the legend was that a castle in
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725:, in: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.vol. 89, 1996, p. 711-716
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Countess of Holland by birth and by marriage Countess of Henneberg
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of 1639, in a poem by Robert Waring of 1651, in the works of
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The childbirth and the children in the vessel. Print of 1620
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551:("the coat of arms of the Prince of Orange"), a picture by
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The Countess Margaret of Henneberg and her 365 Children
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The story is also reported by Jan van Naaldwijk in his
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In the spring of 1276, Margaret fell seriously ill in
680:, Ithaca und London (Cornell University Press) 2004,
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earlier in 1246, but had lost to Margaret's brother
640:, who was fiercely derided for this view in 1726.
307:, which can be found in the University Library of
484:become fertile if they washed their hands in it.
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257:Margaret of Henneberg and her husband lived in
242:Margaret married on Pentecost of 1249 to Count
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322:Margaret insults the beggar. Print from 1620.
678:The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels
660:: In Margaret's time, the new year began on
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219:The castle of Henneberg family in Loosduinen
62:"Margaret of Holland, Countess of Henneberg"
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51:adding citations to reliable sources
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716:detailed presentation with sources
414:General History of the Netherlands
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721:Jan Bondeson and Arie Molenkamp,
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549:Het wapen van de Prins van Oranje
632:Hydatidiform mole, sagittal view
273:of Brandenburg-Salzwedel in 1268
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607:for closer examination. When
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553:Pieter van den Keere
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47:improve this article
657:Journal des scavans
590:, Mathias Poulsen,
445:The Floating Island
286:Floris V of Holland
276:Poppo, died in 1291
248:King of the Germans
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406:madama Margarita
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36:verification
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760:1276 deaths
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647:. Ejected
580:John Evelyn
489:Poederoijen
366:De Monstris
290:Good Friday
103:August 2015
734:Categories
713:(in Dutch)
688:, S. 64-94
668:References
457:Ockenburgh
358:godparents
342:wrote his
282:Loosduinen
263:Loosduinen
252:William II
156:Loosduinen
149:1276-03-26
73:newspapers
506:Philip II
426:John Stow
422:Crudities
375:In 1599,
228:Floris IV
172:Spouse(s)
43:talk page
662:25 March
564:Kufstein
504:between
387:Chronica
244:Herman I
574:Tourism
430:Annales
391:Dresden
313:epitaph
309:Utrecht
87:scholar
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543:, 1712
434:ballad
334:Kronyk
271:Otto V
259:Coburg
204:Mother
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451:, in
189:Poppo
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182:Issue
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238:Life
143:Died
138:1234
135:Born
66:news
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