| Notes |
- Bauck Poppema also known as Bauck Foppesd. van Popma or Bauck Hemmema, was a legendary Dutch heroine known for her defence of the fort Hemmemastate during the conflict between the Schieringers and the Vetkopers in 1496.
Bauck was born in Terschelling and died in Berlikum, Friesland in 1501. Bauck was the wife of Doeke Hettes Hemmema (died 1503) an ally of the Schieringers party. In 1496, a pregnant Poppema successfully defended the fort for a time during a siege by Vetkoper invaders from the city of Groningen. Eventually, however, enemy reinforcements arrived, after which the fort fell and all but one of Bauck's soldiers were executed. Bauck was imprisoned in Groningen, where legend holds that she gave birth to twins while chained in a dungeon. She was released in 1497.
In Friesland Bauck Poppema has become a metaphor for a "brave woman" a Frisian heroine.
Daughter of Foppe Popma and Wilsck Aedesd. Gerbranda. Bauck Poppema married Doeke Hettes Hemmema (d. 1503), chieftain to Berlikum. From this marriage were born several children, of whom a daughter and a son reached adulthood.
Bauck Poppema grew up as one of fifteen children of Foppe Popma, lord of Terschelling and Wilsck Aedesd. Gerbranda. Three of her sisters joined the Sion nunnery near Dokkum. Bauck Poppema married Doeke Hettes Hemmema a Schieringer nobleman. The couple lived at Hemmemastate, a fortified stone tower (stins) surrounded by heavy earthen ramparts and a moat near Berlikum. It was the time of a bloody civil war between the Schieringers and Vetkopers. A conflict that lasted over a century from 1350 to 1498.
In August 1496 Bauck Poppema played a role in this struggle. Schieringer 'hoofdelingen' or nobels had in the summer of that year made several attacks on Vetkoper property and the Vetkopers sought revenge. Taking advantage of Doeke Hemmema's absence whilst in Franeker consulting with Schieringer party members the Groninger Vetkopers attacked Hemmemastate. According to contemporary chronicler Worp van Tabor at that time there was only Bauck, who was pregnant, her brother inlaw Alef Hemmema, and twenty soldiers defending the stins. The Vetkopers first attack using 'bussen' or cannon focused on the earthen ramparts but made little headway. The defenders returned fire knowing they would have to kill many Groningers to bring an end to the siege. In the second attack, the attackers tried to approach the stins by the canal under the cover of dampened hay. The defenders of Hemmemastate fired shots setting the hay on fire. Again there were many casualties among the Groningers: nine wagons full of dead and wounded were transported to Leeuwarden. Still the Groningers remained and prepared a siege tool, a 'cat' to conquer the stins. Alef Hemmema and three soldiers seized an opportunity that night to break through the siege to seek help from his brother Doeke, but it was too late: on September 3 Hemmemastate was stormed by Vetkopers allies from Oostergo. All soldiers, except one, were slain by the conquerors.
The pregnant Bauck Poppema was transferred to Groningen, Peter Tabor wrote "Groningen took the woman and imprisoned her showing her no mercy." Sixteenth century chronicler Winsemius wrote, 'In prison, Bauck Poppema gave birth to twins'. Worp van Tabor and Schotanus however wrote "in prison she bore a dead child". The oldest source, Peter van Tabor, is silent on Bauk's pregnancy and the birth of any children. Though he wrote that in May 1497 Bauck was exchanged for the Vetkoper Tjalling Lieuwes (Jellinga) who had been held prisoner by Franaker Schieringers.
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