Heksenwaag

In Oudewater you will find an original Heksenwaag from 1482 with an accompanying museum. In the Middle Ages, some 50,000 people were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. Women were mistaken for the slightest bit of being a witch, and they often did not get a chance to prove their innocence. A woman was weighed with a witch's weigh to determine if she was light enough to fly on a broomstick. The wardens were often corrupt. In exchange for money, they quickly declared a woman too light, resulting in death. Emperor Charles V ensured that Oudewater was the only place in Europe that was weighed fairly. Women from all over Europe came to the weigh house and no one was ultimately sentenced to be a witch. If they were acquitted, the women received a certificate. Nowadays you can still get weighed on the original weighing house to obtain a certificate.