Hanna van Recklinghausen

Hanna van Recklinghausen was a Jewish merchant and banker in Lochem in the Netherlands known as the earliest woman merchant known by name in the Netherlands.

She was born in the family of Godschalk, the Jewish Court Jew banker originally from Recklinghausen in Germany. In accordance with the Jewish practice which enabled the women to participate in business as long as they fulfill the religious duties, her father encouraged Hanna to read and count. Therefore, she became his assistant and from 1347 a colleague in family business of moneylending to the nobility.

The last mention of Hanna and her activities is recorded in 1349. Namely, during the Black Death the Jews were blamed for the plague and accused of having poisoned the water wells. A large number of the Jews were killed in massacres committed by the embittered population. It is known that Duke of Gelderland, Reginald III, Duke of Guelders to whom belong the area of Lochem took a group of Jews in custody in 1350, and Hanna was perhaps part of that group.