History
The world behind the tales
Every folk tale grows from a real place and a real time. In this section we set the legends and sagas in their historical context: the towns and guilds, the witch trials, the giants and processions, the saints and the wars. So you not only read the tale, you understand why it was told.
Towns, guilds and burghers
How the medieval town with its crafts and guilds became the soil for countless urban legends.
Explore the talesWitches and trials
The witch craze in the Low Countries: fear, neighbours and law, and how the tales kept that pain for centuries.
Explore the talesGiants and processions
From the Horse Bayard to the giants of the parade: living heritage that still fills the streets each year.
Explore the talesSaints and pilgrimages
How saints’ lives, miracles and pilgrimage sites drew the map of faith and of the tales.
Explore the talesWar and occupation
Sieges, plunder and ghosts of the battlefield: how violence lodged itself in regional tales.
Explore the talesWater, dikes and the sea
Floods, drowned villages and the endless fight against the water, and the legends it left behind.
Explore the tales