ahoy me piratey hearty ssg friends there be treasure in them there hills.......there isn't actually any hills here, just humour me,
so it be pirate sunday and I wanted to join in , so I went and found a real badass pirate a real pirate I could lose me heart too and all that, I looked for a rebel, a strong man with an independent nature, a man with a big sword......
and I found one :)
meet hang on his names a bit of a vocal exercise.....Pier Gerlofs Donia and he had a big sword :)
We re talking sixteenth century big here and all, they didn't mess about in them days you know. So his more popular name was Grutte Pier, literally meaning great Pier, because apparently he was around 7 feet tall, strong, quite fiercesome, he took on the holy roman empire, on more than one occasion, this was a man with huge balls! Life generally was pretty tough in those days but at this time there was a war between the Frisians and the Dutch, mostly he had stayed out of it but, life throws a challenge every now and again doesn't it, saxon soldiers burnt his home, his village was attacked, and his wife raped, and murdered
He had been a wealthy farmer but now life had changed him and he became a pirate and commanded a militia, known as the Schwarte Hoop~dutch for black gang and he fought for freedom of the Frisians and they hold him a hero but the Dutch are not so enthusiastic, he was a successful pirate he was a good strategist at sea and appears to have been cool headed and logical, apparently nearly a hundred ships fell victim to him.
Etching of Grutte Pier, from 'Chronycke ofte Historische Geschiedenis van Frieslant' published in 1622. ( Public Domain )
His great sword was apparently 2.13 metres and weighing 6.6 kilograms, the sword in the Fries Museum is the real thing and quite impressive.
Picture of Grutte Pier’s Sword. (1953) Fries museum in Leeuwarden. (public domain)
Now that is a beauty :) rumours tell he actually got it from a Saxon soldier. the war went on for many years and he grew old and tired of the fighting and retired dying the following year in 1516. There is a statue to him in his home town which I think is cool.
I hope you enjoyed meeting this man, if only briefly, and his sword is something to behold, I couldn't even begin to move it never mind pick it up and behead someone, according to history he could decapitate several of his enemies with a single swipe from his sword. Admittedly beheading people is a tad frowned upon these days, still quite impressive though.
Drunk Bob is impressed he just doesn't like to show it and he has more important stuff om his mind....
have an excellent pirate sunday my lovely ssg friends
refs:
(1) https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/pier-gerlofs-donia-giant-frisian-rebel-warrior-and-pirate-005312
(2) https://listverse.com/2014/05/28/10-obscure-yet-successful-pirates-from-history/
(3)https://www.friesmuseum.nl/en/collection/icons/grutte-piers-sword/
(4) a few other websites