- Trijntje Keever
Trijntje Cornelisdochter Keever (Edam, The
Netherlands , April 10 or 161616 – Ter Veen (Veere ?),July 22 1633 ), was nicknamed ‘De Groote Meid’ (in English ‘The Big Girl’) and was probably the tallest woman that ever lived, measuring 254 centimeters or 8 feet and 4 inches.Biography
Trijntje Keever was the daughter of Cornelis Keever and Anna Pouwels. Cornelis was a skipper and Anna his maid, whom he married op
May 24 1605 .Trijntje’s parents took her to carnivals to earn some money by letting people see her. The first time Trijntje was mentioned was onJune 30 1625 when she was nine years old and had reached a height of 2 meters, 6 foot 6 inches. A royal company consisting of the Bohemian kingFrederick V, Elector Palatine , his wifeElizabeth of Bohemia and the princessAmalia van Solms-Braunfels , living inThe Hague at the time were curious of a ‘nine-year-old being miraculously tall’.Trijntje died of cancer, at 17 years of age. She was buried on
July 7 1633 in Edam, her town of birth. Her epitaph is said to have been ‘Trijntje Crelis groote meidt oudt 17 jaer’, or, in English: ‘Trijntje Crelis, big girl, 17 years of age’.In the townhall of Edam is a lifesize painting by an unknown artist portraying Trijntje in civilian clothes with a belt holding at her right a keyring and on her left a pincushion and a sheath with a knife, fork and spoon. Her shoes are shown, European size 55, 40 cms long, 16 inches.ee also
*
Robert Wadlow , the tallest man ever.*
List of tallest people External link
* [http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/TrijntjeKeever Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon - portret] , in Dutch
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