Domine1
F, #14843, b. circa 1708
| Last Edited | 08/04/2017 |
| Birth* | Domine was born circa 1708 in de Caep de Goede Hoop.1 |
| Names in the record, in publications, etc. | 1733, the name of Domine was written in the record as Caatje.1 |
| Notes | Domine, called Caatje in the record of her testimony in the case of Gerrit Jacobsz: Coetsé/Coetzee, was apparently a seasonal worker in the Drakenstein vineyards during the pressing season. She may have been a survivor of the small Khoe clan 'Caapse Hottentottin' earlier headed by Captain Thomas and Captain Jantje who had lived in a kloof of the Simonsberg. Ninety percent of the Khoe and San population were wiped out in the 1713 smallpox epidemic. In the wake of the epidemic the remants of the population, apparently just four small clans, remained within the expanding VOC colony at the Cape of Good Hope having survived the 1713 small-pox epidemic at the Cape. On 15 February 1714 they 'requested' the Cape's Governor who had lived in a kloof of the Simonsberg. Ninety percent of the Khoe and San population were wiped out in the 1713 smallpox epidemic. In the wake of the epidemic the remants of the population, apparently just four small clans, remained within the expanwho had lived in a kloof of the Simonsberg. Ninety percent of the Khoe and San population were wiped out in the 1713 smallpox epidemic. In the wake of the epidemic the remants of the population, apparently just four small clans, remained within the expanding VOC colony at the Cape of Good Hope having survived the 1713 small-pox epidemic at the Cape. On 15 February 1714 they 'requested' the Cape's Governor who had lived in a kloof of the Simonsberg. Ninety percent of the Khoe and San population were wiped[Willem Helot - acting Governor] to appoint new captains... saying they were now leaderless and that "hardly one out of ten was left". Their response was prompt and the VOC appointed the following captains: Scipio Africanus, brother & heir of late Hasdrubal; Hannibal, son & heir of Jason; Hercules, son & heir of Hartloop; & Kouga, son & heir of Kouga Sr. In 1688, Edessöa also known as Dickkop, along with Jan and Rooman, members of this clan assaulted Charles Marais, a Huguenot refugee from le-Plessis-Marly [Longvilliers, Hurepoix, Ile-de-France] in a dispute over Marais' watermelons. Marais was struck in the groin by a stone thrown by Edessöa and subsequently died from internal bleeding caused by the injury - the first European settler to die at the hands of a member of the indigenous population. His killer was brought in by his own people and handed over to the Dutch. He was tried and convicted by the Council of Justice but was returned to his kraal for punishment according to indigenous practice. He was beaten to death by sticks.2 |
| Crime and related | By late in July 1733 Gerrit Jacobsz: Coetzee had been arrested by Pieter Lorenz and interrogated twice in the presence of the commissioned members of the Council of Justice. Pieter Lorenz has also taken statements from Domine, Johannes Lodewyk Pretorius and Abraham le Roux. Domine, a Khoe woman also known as Caatje, was a seasonal vineyard worker. She made the most detailed statement and testified to observing penetration with a chestnut mare, while Pretorius and Le Roux said they observed Coetsé on the rump of a grey mare, moving as if he was engaged in a sexual act with the horse. But Lourensz would tell the CoJ that even though Domine's statement was detailed, that because she was a single eye witness, and an unbaptised 'Hottentot' testifying against a Christian, she could not take the oath and her account did not therefor have the same authority as the two white, baptised, burghers.3 |
Citations
- [S723] Susan Newton-King, "Die Blanke Nageslag van Louis van Bengale en Lijsbeth van die Kaap", Kronos (Sodomy, race and respectability in Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, 1689-1762: the story of a family, loosely defined.) 1 (2007): The third eye witness was a Khoe woman named Caatje or, 'in her language', 'Domine'. The secretary estimated her age at twenty five.. Hereinafter cited as "Sodomy, race and respectability in Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, 1689-1762: the story of a family, loosely defined."
- [S629] Personal communications between Mansell Upham and Delia Robertson, 2010-present.
- [S723] Susan Newton-King, "Sodomy, race and respectability in Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, 1689-1762: the story of a family, loosely defined.", In this case, Lourensz was able to produce the statements of three eye-witnesses . The first two, the freeburghers Johannes Louw Pretorius and Abraham le Roux... The third eye witness was a Khoe woman named Caatje or, 'in her language', 'Domine'.
