The Buckriders are a part of Belgian and Dutch folklore. They are ghosts or demons, who rode through the sky on the back of flying goats provided to them by a demon. During the 18th century, groups of thieves and other criminals co-opted the belief to frighten the inhabitants of southern Limburg, a province in the southern part of the Netherlands and eastern Belgium. Using the name "Bokkenrijders", these criminal bands launched raids across a region that includes southern Limburg, and parts of Germany and the Netherlands (parts of which were a part of the Southern Netherlands, currently Belgium). Commonly, the "Bokkenrijders" raided peaceful communities and farms. Several confessed "Bokkenrijders" were convicted and sentenced to death. Because of the link to the occult, authorities accused a large number of potentially innocent men of being "Bokkenrijders" and a number were tortured and subsequently convicted of crimes they denied having committed.
Formally, the name Bokkenrijders was first publicly used in 1774, during the 'trial of Wellen', a town in the Belgian province of Limburg. Johan van Muysen slid a letter underneath the door of a farmer called Wouters. The letter contained a threat that Wouters's house would be burned down unless he paid up. Van Muyses claimed to be member of the buckriders and used the word Satan up to three times. In the trial of Wellen, the term “buckriders” is openly used against Philip Mertens, who wrote a similar threat letter.
Earliest records mentioning the buckriders originate from a tome called Oorzaeke, bewys en ondekkinge van een goddelooze, bezwoorne bende nagtdieven en knevelaers binnen de landen van Overmaeze en aenpalende landstreeken, which approximately translates to Causes, proof and discovery of a godless, averted gang of night thieves and gaggers within the lands of 'Overmaas' and adjacent regions. This book was written in 1779 by S.J.P. Sleinada (real name Pastor A. Daniels). This pastor, who lived in Landgraaf, knew several buckriders personally. The author tells us that these robbers made a pact with the Devil and rode their bucks at night. The common people told stories about them flying through the sky, pronouncing the following spell: 'Over huis, over tuin, over staak, en dat tot Keulen in de wijnkelder!' (across houses, across gardens, across stakes, even across Cologne into the wine cellar!). Once a year, they would visit their master, the Devil, on the 'Mookerheide'.
Later on, the buckriders held a reputation that resembles Robin Hood and his gang. The present interpretation is that a number of criminal gangs robbed houses and committed other crimes, using the myth to their advantage. Also, many of the buckriders that were arrested are thought to be innocent, as confessions were obtained through torture.
In Limburg, the buckriders are now embraced as part of cultural heritage. Trials against buckriders differed from 'common trials against common criminals' if the suspect had performed a godless oath: 'I forswear God ... etc.' This so-called oath of heresy is a stereotypical aspect of the buckriders myth. Since the convicts were accused of their oath and pact with the devil, we can define this as a late form of witch-hunt. Prosecution of buckriders was as ruthless as the buckriders were themselves, even by those day's standards. 90% of the convicts received capital punishment. Confessions were given by means of torture, or by fear for it.
There are 7 periods of different buckrider raids. The first took place during 1743 - 1745, and the last during 1793 - 1794.
The fact that the buckriders were tried and prosecuted for their pact with the devil, resembles the witch-hunts during the Early Modern Period. Historians place these buckrider-hunts alongside other prosecuted 'godless' people: heretics and witches. These kinds of ruthless and fullscale trials last took place in Limburg.
Most of the crimes they were accused of, buckrider gangmembers never performed (such as the pact with the devil). There never was an organized central buckriders gang, but small separate groups.
So the goat steeds in Nyerla are different from Earth goats! Aside from them having fangs, they also have a very loose relationship with gravity, with them being able to leap incredibly long distances from standstill, with the longest distance to date on record being about fifty meters. This dashing ability makes them nigh-impossible to kill for most predators (when not domesticated, at least) and also makes them beloved steeds for fast travel by some species. They're commonly ridden by thylacines to cover long distances in a short amount of time.
The ability of these goats to leap this far has nicknamed them the name "flying goats", though they don't actually fly. One of the downsides of their long distance leaping is that they wear out easily, but for short-timed long-distance dashes they're the ultimate mount.
So here's Tek with their goat Bearli taking the leap of faith of a rocky hill to test the steed's dashing abilities. Also purple. I felt like drawing something purple today. Ain't that neat?
My entry for Clip Studio Paint’s contest: Myths and Mythology
I chose the Dutch legend of ‘The Buckriders.’ They were a gang of thieves who roamed the southern parts of the Netherlands and parts of Belgium in the 18th century. Stealing from churches and robbing and killing folks.
Legend says they sold their soul to the devil and rode on giant goats, with red eyes, through the sky. Capturing them was almost impossible.
Basically this was the Dutch version of the Salem witch trials, and lots of folks were tortured and hanged on suspicion of being a Buckrider. Lots of history took place in the village I grew up in and where I live now. It always fascinated me and also creeped me out a bit.
" 't is dan de pligt, die my als eenen waeren landgenoot beweegt, om de Landen van Overmaeze, die als een ander Sodoma en Gomorra in andere plaatsen afgschilderd zyn, eenigzins door dit kleyn schriftje te beschermen, anderdeels om een geheugenis in de gedagten te inten, die de ingezetene in het toekomende zoude afschrikken van door hun gedrag de galgen weer te doen opregten, waer aen hunne voorzaeten hunnen levenstyd en misdaeden met de doodstraf hebben moeten verwisselen"
~~~
"It would then be my duty, as a true citizen of this country, to, on one hand, protect the Lands of Overmaeze, otherwise portrayed as some sort of Sodom and Gomorrah, with this little booklet, and, on the other hand, remind the citizens of tomorrow and scare them so that they will not misbehave and let the gallows rise again, on which their predecessors had to exchange their lives and crimes for a death penalty."
S.J.P. Sleinada was born as Johan Arnold Daniëls on September 2nd, 1738, in Hoensbroek, and was the son of Arnold Daniëls, treasurer, and Catharina Meijers. The fact that he lived in Hoensbroek, as a street called Dorpstraat to be precise, makes it very probable he knew a few Bokkenrijders of the First Wave (1732-1745), or at the least the people they left behind, personally. After all, Hoensbroek was this wave's epicenter.
We know very little about his youth, but there are some documents from a play at the collegium Albertinum of the Dominicans, located in Sittard, from 1754 and 1756, when Daniëls was 16 and 18 years old, respectively. He played Innocentia (Innocence) in a play called "De onoverwinnelijke Joseph geboren uit Jacob door God bestemd tot onderkoning van Egypte", or "The unconquerable Joseph born from Jacob, destined by God to be viceroy of Egypt". From this, we can learn he studied at this collegium.
When Daniëls was 25 years old, in 1763, he was ordained a priest after studying at the seminar or Roermond, and he became a chaplain in his home town until 1765. It is unknown what happened then, but he became a pastor in Scheydt (modern-day Schaesberg) in 1771/1772, when the Bokkenrijders trials of the third wave had already begun...
His work and its importance
This little biography, however, does not explain why Daniëls is of such importance to anyone researching the Bokkenrijders- especially to those researching the third wave. There are hundreds of people who knew a convicted Bokkenrijder personally, dozens who were said to have been robbed by this gang. The latter never even happened to Daniëls! So why is he of such importance, that we dedicate one of our first posts to him, instead of a robbery, or even a 'Bokkenrijder'?
This is because of a little booklet, published in 1779: "Oorsprong, Oorzaeke, Bewys en ontdekkinge van een godlooze Bezwoorne Bende, Nagtdieven en Knevelaers, binnen de landen van Overmaeze en Aenpaelende Landstreeken ontdekt, met een nauwkeurig getal der Geexecuteerde en Vlugtelingen, door S.J.P. Sleinada", or "Origin, Cause, Proof and discovery of a godless Vowed Gang, night thieves and foes in the lands of Overmaeze and Adjacent Countries discovered, with an accurate number of people executed and refugees, by S.J.P. Sleinada" in English.
This booklet, with an exceptionally long title for the amount of pages, was the first book ever published about the Bokkenrijders and, as the title suggests, gives us quite some insight in the trials, as well as the way people, or at least an outsider, albeit written by a pastor, thought about the Bokkenrijders back in the day they were still active, which makes it an incredibly interesting source and which explains why it's named in almost every book or research paper about the gang. After all, besides the trials and a letter or two, it's the only source we have.
A source of which we didn't even know the author for quite some time! It was only in 1859, 80 years after the book was published, that the mayor of Hoensbroek discovered S.J.P. Sleinada was the pseudonym of J. A. Daniëls. When you flip around the pseudonym, you get Adaniels P.J.S. - A. Daniëls, Pastor Indignus Schaesbergensis/Pastoor In Scheydt - Arnold Daniëls, Pastor of Schaesberg.
Unfortunately, Daniëls never lived to see this discovery (although, he wrote the book under a pseudonym for a reason), he died in Schaesberg in 1799, at age 61.
Discussions
However, despite Sleinada's booklet being one of the most frequently quoted works about the Bokkenrijders, right after the trials themselves, we can't say everything written in it is entirely true, nor can we say for certain what exactly Sleinada's goal was. Was he trying to put to words what he blamed the Bokkenrijders for, as well as trying to praise the government, or was he really just trying to warn the Lands like he mentioned in the quote mentioned at the beginning of this blog?
The Bokkenrijders - Introduction #2: Three Kinds Of People
PSA: In these theories, there is none more right than the other. All of these theories are still supported by researchers, although we do occasionally have a very... intense discussion about them. I’m telling you this so you know there is no right or wrong here. Please don’t have fights over this and keep discussions civil. It is also 100% okay to switch around a little. I myself used to be a supporter of the 2nd theory, but now believe the 3rd one.
As mentioned before, there are several theories surrounding the Bokkenrijders. My goal, the goal of this blog, is essentially to share reliable information with the world so the people reading this can eventually, with certainty, be a supporter of one of these theories, or maybe even create a new one themselves!
So what exactly are these three theories?
Theory #1 - The confessions are all true, the Bokkenrijders were a violent and Satanic gang
Mostly supported by: S.J.P. Sleinada and other primary sources, people who lived during the times of the trials.
This was he first theory about the gang and the theory on which all the trials are based. The story described in introduction #1 is what this theory is about and, back in the days of the trials, this was the story most of the people believed (although there were already some talking about the second theory).
This theory describes the Bokkenrijders as being a Satanic gang who met up at chapels, robbed churches in the Devil’s name and flew on goats by his power. This theory is also sometimes mixed with the second theory, especially in literary works.
Some also believe that, while the gang itself was not really Satanic, they did use the fear the people had of there being a Satanic gang, for example by using an unholy oath, which led to people (members) being afraid of leaving and/or talking too much.
Due to the fact that this was the leading theory for most of history (read 1730′s to 1960′s), it was long seen as something shameful to have a Bokkenrijder somewhere in your ancestry. There are even several cases of people changing their name due to this fact. One of the most famous cases of someone changing their name is Joseph Kerckhove van der Varent, born Joseph Kerckhoffs, great nephew of the 3rd gang’s (1752-1776) “leader” Joseph Kirchhoffs/Kerckhoffs.
Theory #2 - The confessions are mostly true, there was a gang, but they were Robin Hood-like
Mostly supported by: Wilhelm Gierlichs, Anton Blok and a lot of other researchers, most authors of literary works about the Bokkenrijders.
While there were already a few people talking about this theory during the later trials, it only became popular from the 1960′s on, when Catholicism became less important in Limburg (where the Lands of Overmaeze were once located). People began to speak more positively about the Bokkenrijders and having a member in your family became something to be proud of, instead of something you should be ashamed of.
This theory states that there was indeed a gang, after all, almost everyone tried, confessed to having been a member. However, people who believe this theory think the members were not members just for the sake of robbing people, but in order to stay alive. After all, as stated in Introduction #1, the Lands of Overmaeze, and therefor most of its people, were poor and war-torn. It is very much possible people were so poor and desperate, they turned to criminality to support themselves and their families.
The Third wave, led by the Kirchhoffs brothers, are said to be most evident of these Robin Hood-like tendencies, since most of the convicted leaders led wealthy lives, while most of the normal convicted members were poor.
Some, if not most of the people who support this theory do keep to the Satanic part and say they either robbed churches because there was enough valuable things there, or because they blamed the Church for their poverty. While there are also a lot of people who still support the idea of there having been an important oath, nobody really believes the part they flew on goats anymore.
This theory is practically the only one used in novels about the Bokkenrijders.
Theory #3 - The confessions are completely false, there was no single gang
Mostly supported by: Louis Augustus, François van Gehuchten, a few other modern researchers.
This is the newest theory. It started with Louis Augustus’s Publications (1991), and states that the Bokkenrijders never really existed. While this theory does acknowledge the existence of the trials, it dismisses the existence of the Bokkenrijders as a single gang.
The reason for this is very simple: as stated in Introduction #1, torture was a very common practice during these trials. Supported of this theory state that, because of this, the confessions made during the trials, are unreliable. Besides, most confessions made are contradictory to each other. We should therefor look at what little other primary sources we have, such as Corpus Delicti, books and letters, but none of these have proven the existence of a single gang. In fact, the only available book as a primary source, S.J.P. Sleinada’s work, makes a lot of claims which can be proven false!
The Bokkenrijders - Introduction #1: The Basic Story
In order to understand anything on this blog, a short introduction to the Bokkenrijders might be in place.
Why this can only be a short introduction, has a simple reason: we know little to nothing about the Bokkenrijders and everything we do ‘know’ is up for debate. The only thing people can agree on is the death count, and even on this subject, there’s a small debate going on.
I will, however, tell you the story which has been believed for over 250 years, the story supporters of the 1st and 2nd theory (more on that in introduction #2) still believe today and the story which has ultimately led to the tragic death of hundreds of people. This is the original story.
The story started in the 1730′s (1), a time in which the Lands of Overmaeze were downright poor and war-torn. Church robberies started to occur and, in the very Catholic Lands, this obviously started rumours...
The First Rumours
According to these rumours, there was a Satanic gang active in the Lands. Members were said to gather at chapels before robberies and, in the case of a new member, say their oath. The exact wording of this oath is unknown, but everyone agreed that new members had to “renounce God and all the Saints and instead worship Satan”. Some also claim they had to promise to do harm whenever they could, but most researchers, even those who believe all condemned were guilty, do not believe this.
It was also said that, because of this oath, Satan would help them with their criminal activities and would appear to them as an enormous goat - hence the name Bokkenrijders, or Goat/Buckriders in English. They would fly on this goat (or multiple goats, according to some) to be able to rob more places per night. Some confessions even stated to have flown with 42 people on a single goat. (2)
The Trials
In the 1740′s the first people got caught, but here’s something incredibly important to the trials that followed: torture was a common practice and complices were thus named by the dozens. Trials turned into mass trials, three main ones in total (1743-1745, 1749-1751 and 1771-1776) and a few smaller ones afterwards. What started off as church robberies ended up with 500 to 700 people executed, exiled or otherwise tried and outcast, and around 1200 to 1600 people in total being named as complices of this gang.
What Posts Will Be About
In later posts, I will tell you more about how these mass trials came to be, how exactly an interrogation went, the differences in trialing between the three Lands of Overmaeze and, of course, some specific people and robberies. The Askbox is always open if you’d like to know more about a specific subject, and I’ll try to get to your ask as soon as possible!
Sources
1: Anton Blok: De Bokkerijders, Roversbenden en geheime genootschappen in de Landen van Overmaas [1730-1774]
Last week’s warmup doodles: fanart from the “Legende van de Bokkenrijders” (“Legend of the Buckriders”) from the Nineties. I drew some of the main characters, a Buckrider and two Rakkers (early policemen). Swipe for close ups. Made exclusively with the Karen Kali-Graf brush for @procreate by @georgvw. It’s my go to brush for character design, doodles and comics. #procreate #procreateart #buckrider #buckriders #bokkenrijders #limburg #legendevandebokkenrijders #fanart #doodles #doodlesofinstagram #conceptart #characterdesign #digitalcomics #comics #illustration (bij Boxtel) https://www.instagram.com/p/B88n0QvDwIc/?igshid=1534qk3gkbpye
This weekend's quidcrush is Anna from the Buckriders - excellent face, mimics, smile/grin. Also hair and beating style but my opinion on the latter is neither very informed nor qualified at all.
