Hogepriesters

Hogepriesters are a term used to describe a group of Dutch priests who were gibbeted and left to rot as a form of punishment during the 17th and 18th centuries. The practice of gibbeting was a common form of capital punishment in the Netherlands, and the pig-like or boar representation used to depict the hogepriesters is rooted in the mediaeval tradition of depicting heretics and anti-clerics as pigs.

In essence, hogepriesters were individuals who held strong, unconventional views on religion and clergymen. They were often radical preachers who rejected traditional trappings of power in the Dutch church. Due to their subversive nature, they were frequently banned from their pulpits and eventually left to be hung in cages, decorated with images of animals, as a warning to others.

The term hogepriesters does not refer to an official congregation or formal institution but rather reflects the societal and theological misconception of their deadly misconception and vehement discourse. Their followers, despite the dangerous reputation and suffering, remained disappointedly and dogmatically committed to the principles of their leaders. The legacy of hogepriesters in Dutch history evokes a sense of opposition and sorrow, symbolizing a counterculture period of criticisms from the order.

It is estimated that there were several hogepriesters whose offenses derived from crime of opinion, and some take it as a demeaning characterization, an inglorious typology of subversives.