MAY 31, 1578: What’s in a Name I: Martin Frobisher

English sailor/privateer Sir Martin Frobisher visited the New World three times on his quest for — what else? — that elusive Northwest Passage to Asia.  Setting sail from England on May 31, 1578, on his second voyage, he sailed up Labrador way and into — talk about coincidences — Frobisher Bay.  One piece of luck followed another.  Ashore, on what is now Baffin Island, he discovered gold ore.  Lots of it.  He loaded three ships with 200 tons of the stuff and returned merrily to England.  He sailed right back to the New World for more gold ore with an even larger fleet of ships, giving nary a thought to that damn Northwest Passage.  1,350 tons this time around.

Time passed, and as the gold ore was smelted, Frobisher basked in the thoughts of his future wealth.  Alas, it wasn’t to be.  Efforts to extract gold revealed that the supposed gold ore was worthless rock.  The ore was repurposed for road construction, and thus the streets of London were paved with gold — fool’s gold, that is.

What’s in a Name II: Engel K0r . . . What’s Her Name

Engel Korsendochter was the daughter of wealthy burghers (not to be confused with, well you know) Corsgen Elbertsznoon and Geertruyt Hendriksdr van der Schelling.  She married Heiman Jacobsnoon, the mayor of the Frisian city of Amstelerdam. Astute almanackers will realize that we have journeyed back to the world of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and Dutch masters (painters not cigars).  Engel and Heiman of the moniker mouthfuls were stars of a rebellion that took place on May 31, 1531.  (Those same astute almanackers will probably remember the Dutch undertakers rebellion, January 31, 1696.)  Heiman was a Protestant sympathizer;  Engel was Catholic through and through, with two sister sisters and a Franciscan father to prove it.  Engel herself was the head of the Guild of the Holy Sacrament, a society charged with protecting a chapel (between Kalverstraat and Rokin, if you care).

City authorities had called for the chapel to be torn down to make room for a wool shed (was Heiman involved?) Engel led three hundred women in a protest march that brought a lot of attention to their cause but got them banished from Amsterdam for four years.  They were later pardoned by Catholic King Charles V.

An altarpiece attempts to honor Engel Korsendoc —