1739 Cupido van Mallabaar
In this tragic case, Cupido van Mallabaar threatened to take his own life, as well as that of his owner’s wife and her child.1 The episode reveals an intense emotional crisis. Cupido’s complaints that he was made to wear clothing that he was not used to, and that his owners had bought neither other slaves to assist him, nor a female slave to be his companion, reveal the frustrations and alienation of a slave on a Drakenstein farm whose owners merely laughed at his grievances. His ambivalent feelings towards his owners are shown by his vacillation between pity for his mistress and her child and his threats to them.2
The case shows how hard it must have been for an imported slave to adapt culturally to alien circumstances and gives a glimpse into the ways in which he felt and responded to what he experienced at the Cape.
Footnotes
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The circumstances are somewhat similar to amok cases (see 1744 Barkat van Timor for notes on this), although, unlike amok perpetrators, Cupido hesitated over his actions because of his conflicting emotions towards his owners. ↩
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Other documentation in the case includes the eijscheijschLiterally ‘claim’ or ‘demand.’ This is strictly speaking the eijsch ende conclusie without the final part about sentencing, but the term is often used as a shorthand for the whole document., the interrogatoriën of Cupido van Mallabaar, and the testimony of Maria Klaasz, Jan van der Straten’s wife, CJ 344, ff. 302-20. Cupido admitted everything in his answers to the questions in his interrogatoriën, including his intention to murder his owner, stating that he had acted ‘het eene uijt dronkenschap en het andere uijt bangigheijt’ (partly because of drunkenness and partly through fear), CJ 344, f. 315v. ↩
CJ 786 Sententiën, 1736-1743, ff. 263-70.
Since Cupido van Mallabaar, slave of the burgher Jan van Straeten, 28 years old at a guess, currently their honours’ prisoner, has voluntarily confessed without torture or force of bonds, of irons, or even the least threat of suchlike, and since it has appeared as clear as daylight to the honourable Council of Justice of this government:
That on a certain day during the recently passed month of March, without being able to name the precise date, the prisoner, after he had already gone in and out of his master’s house, situated in Draakensteijn, three or four times, finally entered the house again and went to a room, from which he took a musket and also a box with gunpowder. When the prisoner’s mistress, who was alone at home with her child, saw this, she asked him why he took the musket and what he wanted to shoot with it, and when the prisoner replied to this: “I do not want to shoot you, but myself”, his mistress said: “In God’s name, put it down”, while the prisoner replied: “You just pick up your child”. That the prisoner’s mistress then picked up her child and went with it to the voorhuijsvoorhuijsLiterally the ‘front house’, this referred to the first area entered from the main door or stoep (porch). In most houses this was a room, although in the later design of some Cape houses it referred to a narrower passage (like a hall or vestibule) flanked by one or more front rooms.. The prisoner put down the musket, followed them and, when he got to the voorhuijsvoorhuijsLiterally the ‘front house’, this referred to the first area entered from the main door or stoep (porch). In most houses this was a room, although in the later design of some Cape houses it referred to a narrower passage (like a hall or vestibule) flanked by one or more front rooms., took his knife from his pocket, saying: “What do you want now, that I should murder you, or myself?”, and then put the back of the knife against his throat, asking if his said mistress wanted to see him slitting his throat; upon which his mistress earnestly enquired why he wanted to do this, and whether something was wrong with him, to which the prisoner gave as answer: “So much”. And, after the prisoner took off his jacket and shirt and threw them down on the ground, he said, pointing to his leather trousers: “I am not used to wearing trousers like these, I have already worked two or three years here, and I do not see the baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans. buying more jongensjongensLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. or nonjenonjeThis word entered Dutch from Malay nyonya (which in turn derived from Portuguese dona, ‘lady’) and was in use at the Cape since its foundation. It was used both by settlers to refer to women in general, and by slaves and Khoikhoi as a form of address for female Europeans. It survived in modern Afrikaans in the form of nooi or nôi, ‘young (unmarried) woman’, although it is now somewhat archaic. buying a meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ for me,1 baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans. and nonjenonjeThis word entered Dutch from Malay nyonya (which in turn derived from Portuguese dona, ‘lady’) and was in use at the Cape since its foundation. It was used both by settlers to refer to women in general, and by slaves and Khoikhoi as a form of address for female Europeans. It survived in modern Afrikaans in the form of nooi or nôi, ‘young (unmarried) woman’, although it is now somewhat archaic. may talk and laugh very well”. The prisoner at this time also told his said mistress that he once went into the room while her husband was lying asleep with the intention to kill him but, looking at him, the prisoner repented because he took pity on his mistress and her child. After this, the prisoner’s mistress went outside through the door, with the prisoner following her, and who then showed her five bullets which he took from his pocket, saying: “These bullets I have made for myself”.
That after this, when the prisoner again went to the room to collect the musket, his mistress meanwhile sought to take flight with her child, but that the prisoner noticed this and immediately followed her, with an unsheathed knife in his hand, and ordered her to return to the house, saying that he knew full well what her intention was. Whereupon the prisoner’s mistress then went to the house, where the prisoner ordered her to go into the kitchen, and when she had done this, the prisoner stabbed at her at least twice with his unsheathed knife, which stabs the prisoner’s mistress tried to prevent, the first time with her right and the second time with her left hand, as a result of which she got injured on both her hands. After this, the prisoner put the knife in his pocket, took his mistress by her hair and dragged her to the room, saying: “Stay there with your child and look after it”, upon which the prisoner again went from the room into the voorhuijsvoorhuijsLiterally the ‘front house’, this referred to the first area entered from the main door or stoep (porch). In most houses this was a room, although in the later design of some Cape houses it referred to a narrower passage (like a hall or vestibule) flanked by one or more front rooms. where he picked up the musket which was then standing there. When his said mistress noticed this, she came into the voorhuijsvoorhuijsLiterally the ‘front house’, this referred to the first area entered from the main door or stoep (porch). In most houses this was a room, although in the later design of some Cape houses it referred to a narrower passage (like a hall or vestibule) flanked by one or more front rooms. with a broom handle and said to the prisoner: “If you do not leave the musket, I will hit you with the broom handle”, to which he answered: “Come on, hit me”, but that she came to her senses, went from him and picked up her child. The prisoner then put the butt-end of the musket against the wall and its muzzle against his chest, but, without firing it, he put it down again, saying: “You are after all wounded, it would be better if I simply kill you, as you will only go and tell the baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans.”; to which the prisoner’s mistress replied that she would not tell this, but rather that she had cut herself on her hands when she tried to slice bread, to which the prisoner answered: “You will do that”. The prisoner’s mistress finally talked him round to go to the surgeon Schabort to fetch a plaster and some brandy for her wounds which were bleeding strongly. To this end, she gave him an empty bottle to take with him, with which bottle he went to a dry rivulet not far from the house, and when he returned from there, the prisoner brought with him half a bottle of brandy, of which he poured some onto the wounds of his mistress. According to what the prisoner says, he had obtained this brandy from a certain jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour., named Januarij, belonging to the burgher David Villier.
That after he had done this, the prisoner also said to his mistress: “It would be better if I murder you, your husband and your child, and that I flay you open like flecked fish, and then do me as well”, after which he went outside to pass water, which opportunity his mistress used to take flight with her child, going to the farm of the farmer David Villier. When she was some way from the house, she saw the prisoner looking for her amongst the bushes outside the house and, shortly thereafter, also heard to the side of her house a shot going off and, some time thereafter, much smoke and fume going up from the house, all of which she made known on her arrival at the farm of the said Villier, who immediately set out there.
That when the prisoner returned to the house and found his mistress missing, he went outside to search for her amongst the bushes, but when he could not find her, he again went to the house and into the room in order, according to what he says, to shoot himself, but through which the bedding caught fire, which he wanted to drag out but, because of his drunkenness, was unable to do so. The prisoner went outside the house and, when he saw some of the neighbours coming, went to the dry rivulet by the house and tried to cut his throat there, but was taken prisoner while busy doing this by the said neighbours, and was thus delivered into the hands of justice.
And since such unprecedented atrocities cannot be punished severely enough in a country where law and justice are practised.
So it is, that the honourable Council of Justice of this government, serving today, having seen and read with attention the written crimineelen eijsch ende conclusiecrimineelen eijsch ende conclusieLiterally ‘criminal demand and conclusion.’ The document drawn up by the prosecutor based on the evidence he collected and delivered in court against an accused. The conclusie is the final part of the document in which the prosecutor suggested an appropriate punishment for the crime. drawn up for and delivered for and against the prisoner by the landdrost, Sieur Pieter Lourensz, in his official capacity, besides having noted the prisoner’s voluntary, verified confession and everything else which further served the case, practising justice in the name and on behalf of the high and mighty Lords States General of the free United Netherlands and, having judged the prisoner Cupido van Mallabaar, their honours are sentencing him with this: to be taken to the place where criminal sentences are usually executed here, there to be handed over to the executioner and to be tied onto a cross, to be broken alive from the bottom up, without the coup de grâce, to remain lying thus on the cross until he has given up the ghost, thereafter the dead body to be dragged to the outer place of execution, to be placed upon a wheel and to remain lying on this until being consumed by the air and the birds of heaven; the Council further sentences the prisoner to the costs and expenditure of justice.
Thus done and sentenced in the Castle of Good Hope on 28 May 1739, as well as pronounced and executed on the 30th of this month.2
Let the execution be done, [signed] H. Swellengrebel.
[signed] R. Tulbagh, D. v.d. Henghel, Ns. Heijning, Cl. Brand, Js. Möller, Mnus. Bergh, Corns. Eelders, P.R. de Savoije, Js. de Grandpreez, Am. Decker, H.J. Prehn, Jan Hendrik Hop, G. la Febre.
In my presence, [signed] D.G. Carnspek, secretary.
Footnotes
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According to Haafner, who lived at the Cape between 1767 and 1770, it was very common in the Dutch colonies ‘dat men aan de huisslaven, ten einde hun het bezoeken van vreemde slavinnen te beletten en meer aan het huis van hunnen meester te verbinden, eene slavin uit het huis toevoegt, die met elkander zamenwonen en ook wederzijds vrij getrouw zijn, hetgene men dan zijne slaven uittrouwen noemt’ (that, in order to prevent other female slaves from visiting, and to attach their own slaves more to the house of their masters, one would give a female slave from the household to house slaves, who would live together, and who would also be fairly faithful to each other; which system is called marrying out one’s slaves) (Haafner 1992: 74). Not buying a female slave for Cupido obviously did not ‘attach’ him to the house of his owner. ↩
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Cupido’s admission of guilt and the sentence were recorded in the regtsrollenregtsrollenLiterally ‘rolls of justice’, the minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Justice., CJ 21, ff. 44-6. This was one of the most severe and gruesome sentences that could be passed by the Council of Justice. ↩
Alsoo Cupido van Mallabaar, slaaf van den burger Jan van der Straeten, oud naar gissing 28 jaaren, thans ’s heeren gevangen, buijten pijn ofte dwang van banden, van ijsers, dan wel de minste bedreijging van dien, vrijwillig heeft geconfesseert, en den edelagtbare Raad van Justitie deeses gouvernements sonneklaer is gebleeken:
Dat den gevangen in de jongst gepasseerde maand Maart, sonder den juijsten datum te kunnen opnoemen, op seekeren dag, nadat bereets drie à vier maal uijt en in zijn meesters huijs, geleegen aan Draakensteijn, gegaan was, ten laatsten eijndelijk weederom in huijs koomende, sig in een caemer heeft begeeven, uijt dewelke den gevangen een snaphaen beneevens een trommel met cruijt nam, waarop zijn gevangens lijfvrouw sulx siende, die alleenig met haar kind te huijs was, hem gevangen vroeg, waerom hij die snaphaan nam, en wat hij daer meede wilde schieten, en hij gevangen daerop antwoordende: Ik wil u niet schieten maar mij selfs, seijde zijn gevangens lijfvrouw: Laat dat dog in Godes naam staan, en hij gevangen weederom: Neem gij jouw kind maar op. Dat zijn gevangens lijfvrouw het kind opgenoomen, met hetselve hierop in het voorhuijs is gegaan, en den gevangen de snaphaen weederom needer geset hebbende, deselve is gevolgt, en in het voorhuijs koomende, onder het seggen: Wat wil gij nu hebben, dat ik jouw of mij sal vermoorden?, het mes uijt zijn sak gehaeld en voorts hetselve met de rug op zijn keel heeft geset, vraegende of zijn gemelte lijfvrouw sien wilde dat hij gevange hem de keel afsneed, waerop zijn gemelte lijfvrouw hem gevangen te gemoed voerde, waarom hij sulx doen wilde, en of hem iets mancqueerde, daar den gevangen op ten antwoord gaf: Soo veel, en den gevangen, naar dat zijn camisool en hembd uijtgetrokken en op de grond gegooijt hadde, wijsende op de leere broek, seijde: Ik ben in mijn land niet gewend sulke broeken te draagen, ik heb ook al twee à drie jaaren meede gewerkt, en sie niet dat de baas meerder jongens en nonje een meijd voor mij koopt, baas en nonje konnen wel lachgen [sic] en praaten, seggende den gevangen alstoen nog teegens zijne gemelte lijfvrouw, dat hij op seekeren tijd in de caemer was gekoomen wijl haar man te slaapen lag, met voorneemen om denselven te vermoorden, dog dat hij hem aansiende, een inkeer hadde gekreegen, omdat hij gevangen over zijn gemelte lijfvrouw en haar kind jammerde, naar hetwelke zijn gevangens lijfvrouw buijten de deur gingh en hij gevangen haar volgende, wees aan deselve vijf koogels, die hij uijt sijn sak haelde, onder het seggen: Die koogels hebbe ik voor mij selfs gemaakt.
Dat hij gevangen hierop weederom naer de caemer is gegaan om de snaphaen te haalen, soekende zijn gevangen lijfvrouw inmiddels met haar kind de vlugt te neemen, dog den gevangen sulx merkende, is haar aanstonds gevolgt met een bloot mes in de hand, haar belastende dat zij terug naar huijs soude gaan, seggende wel te weeten wat haar voorneemen was, waarop zijn gevangens lijfvrouw alsdoen ook naar huijs ging, alwaar hij gevangen haar ordonneerde dat zij in de combuijs soude gaan, ’twelk zij gedaan hebbende, heeft den gevangen tot twee reijsen toe met het bloote mes na haar gestooken, welke steeken zijn gevangens lijfvrouw de eerste maal met de regter-, en de tweede keer met de linker hand willende afweeren, daar door aan beijde haare handen is gequest [sic] geraekt, waerop hij gevangen het mes in zijn sak steekende, gemelte zijn lijfvrouw bij het haar heeft gevat en naar de caemer gesleept, seggende: Blijft daer met jouw kind en past dat op, gaande hij gevangen hierop weederom uijt de caamer in het voorhuijs, alwaar hij de snaphaan nam die als doen daar stond, hetwelk zijn gemelte lijfvrouw gewaar werdende, quam met een beesemstok in het voorhuijs, seggende teegens hem gevangen: Als gij die snaphaen niet laat staan, dan sal ik jouw met de beesemstok slaan, daar hij gevangen op antwoorde: Sla maar; dog zijn gevangens gemelte lijfvrouw een inkeer krijgende, ging van hem af en nam haar kind op, als wanneer hij gevangen de kolf van de snaphaen teegens de muur en de tromp teegens zijn borst settende, dog sonder deselve los te stooten, weederom heeft needer geset, onder het seggen: Gij bent dog gequest, het is beeter dat ik jou maar dood maek, want gij sult het dog aan baas seggen; daar zijn gevangens lijfvrouw op repliceerde, dat sij sulx niet seggen soude, maar wel dat brood willende snijden, haar selven in de handen gesneeden hadde, waarop den gevangen antwoorde: Dat sult gij doen; bepraetende zijn gevangens lijfvrouw hem eijndelijk om naar den chirurgijn Schabort te gaan om een plijster en wat brandewijn voor haare wonden, die sterk bloeden, te haalen, hem gevangen ten dien eijnde meede geevende een leedige fles, met welke fles hij in een droog reviertje, niet verre van het huijs, is gegaan, en van daar weeder terug koomende, bragt hij gevangen een halve fles brandewijn meede, waar van hij iets op de quetsueren van zijn gevangens lijfvrouw goot, en volgens zijn gevangens seggen, soude hij die brandewijn van seekere jongen, Januarij genaamt, toebehoorende den burger David Villier, bekoomen hebben.
Dat hij gevangen, na sulx verrigt te hebben, teegens sijn gemelte lijfvrouw nog gesegt heeft: Het soude beeter weesen, dat ik jouw, jouw man, en jouw kind vermoorde, en openvlekte als een vlek vis, en dan mij ook; gaande voorts naar buijten om zijn waater af te slaan, welke geleegentheijt zijn gevangens lijfvrouw waarneemende met haar kind de vlugt nam, begeevende sig naer de plaats van den landbouwer David Villier, siende zij, soo als een endweegs van huijs was, dat den gevangen buijtens huijs in de bosjes na haer sogte, ook hoorde zij kort daeraan naar de kant van haar huijs een schoot doen, en een wijnig daarna sag sij een groote rook en damp van haar huijs opgaan, alle hetwelke zij bij haare aankomst op de plaats van gemelte Villier heeft bekent gemaakt, die sig ook aanstonds derwaerts heeft begeeven.
Dat den gevangen hierop weederom in huijs is gekoomen en zijn meesteresse missende, sig naar buijten in de bosjes heeft begeeven om haar op te soeken, dog deselve niet vindende, is hij gevangen weederom in het huijs en in de caemer gegaan en, volgens zijn seggen, hem selfs willende dood schieten, soude het kooij goed daar door in brand geraakt zijn, hetwelk hij wilde uijtsleepen, dog door zijn dronkenschap te onmagtig zijnde, is hij gevangen uijt het huijs gegaen en eenige buuren siende aankoomen, heeft hij gevangen sig in een droog reviertje bij het huijs begeeven en sig aldaar de keel soeken af te snijden, dog wierd, terwijl hier meede nog beesig was, van de gemelte buuren aldaar gevangen genoomen, en alsoo in handen van de justitie overgeleevert.
Ende gemerkt sulke ongehoorde gruwel daeden, in een land daar regt en justitie geoeffent word, niet swaer genoeg kunnen werden gestraft.
Soo is het dat den edelagtbare Raad van Justitie deeses Casteels, ten daege dienende, aandagtelijk hebbende geleesen en geresumeert den schriftelijken crimineelen eijsch ende conclusie door den landdrost, sieur Pieter Lourensz, nomine officii, op ende jeegens den gevangen gedaen ende genoomen, wijders geleth op des gevangens vrijwillige gerecolleerde confessie, en op alle hetgeen voorts ter saake dienende was, doende regt uijt naame ende van weegens de hooghmoogende Heeren Staaten Generaal der vrije Vereenigde Neederlanden, den gevangen Cupido van Mallabaar hebben gecondemneert, gelijk haar Edel Agtbaarens denselven condemneeren mits deesen: omme gebragt te werden ter plaatse alwaar men alhier gewoon is crimineele sententiën te executeeren en aldaar aan den scherprechter overgeleevert en op een kruijs gebonden sijnde, van onder op, sonder slag van gratie, leevendig geleedebraekt te werden, en dus op ’t kruijs te blijven leggen totdat den geest sal hebben gegeeven, daar naer ’t doode lichaem naar ’t buijten geregt gesleept en op een rad geset sijnde, daerop te blijven leggen totdat door de lugt en voogelen des heemels zal zijn verteerd, condemneerende den Raad weijders den gevangen in de costen en misen van justitie.
Aldus gedaen ende gesententieert in ’t Casteel de Goede Hoop, den 28e Maij 1739; mitsgaders gepronuntieert ende geëxecuteerd den 30e dier maand.
Fiat Executie, [get.] H. Swellengrebel.
[get.] R. Tulbagh, D. v.d. Henghel, Ns. Heijning, Cl. Brand, Js. Möller, Mnus. Bergh, Corns. Eelders, P.R. de Savoije, Js. de Grandpreez, Am. Decker, H.J. Prehn, Jan Hendrik Hop, G. la Febre.
Mij praesent, [get.] D.G. Carnspek, secretaris.