The witch trials in the Netherlands were among the smallest in Europe. The Netherlands are known for having discontinued their witchcraft executions earlier than any other country in Europe. The provinces began to phase out capital punishment for witchcraft beginning in 1593. The last trial in the Northern Netherlands took place in 1608 and the last trial on the territory of the modern-day Netherlands was in 1613. 164 to about 200 people were killed in Dutch witch trials, rising to potentially 300 victims if one includes casualties from regions that were under Spanish jurisdiction but eventually became part of the Netherlands. The victims were overwhelmingly women. Belief in witches persisted in some areas into the nineteenth century and in 1823 one woman underwent the water ordeal with the support of the authorities to prove her innocence to her superstitious neighbours. History Northern Netherlands prior to independence Despite significant losses of archival material, it seems that the Northern Netherlands saw most of their trials for sorcery and witchcraft between 1550 and 1575, when prosecutions in the Southern Netherlands were only just beginning. The province of Groningen's first trials were in 1457, leading to the executions of twenty women and a man. In the 1550s the area between Rhine and Meuse was hit hard, while in the 1560s, and particularly in 1564, prosecutions peaked in the County of Holland. Early in the sixteenth centuries when witch trials were still in the initial stages in the Low Countries, authorities often sought advice and "expertise" from abroad, such a Cologne and Cleves. An executioner from Cleves, master Symon, was contracted for several trials for his skill in breaking victims and extracting a confession from them. Northern Netherlands after independence The Netherlands became an independent country after the Dutch War of Independence in 1579. During the late 16th century, the Netherlands did experience a couple of high-profile witch trials. The provincial courts in Zeeland and Frisia maintained strict central control, were staffed by trained jurists and insisted on due process. Their academic jurists observed the procedural rules for a high standard of evidence before torture was allowed. In June 1593, the High Court (Hoge Raad) repealed a death sentence for witchcraft from Schiedam in the Province of Holland. This became a case of precedence which was henceforth followed as common practice in Holland, thereby de facto abolished the death penalty for witchcraft in the province.