Editing Buckriders (section)

==History==
[[Image:Riding goats Abbatiale Mozac 2007 06 30.jpg|thumb| Buckriders on a 12th-century [[Capital (architecture)|capital]] in the [[Moissac Abbey|Abbey church of Moissac]]]]
[[Image:Bosch, Hieronymus - The Garden of Earthly Delights, central panel - Detail Rider and fruit (upper left).jpg|thumb|A Buckrider depicted on [[Jheronimus Bosch]]' ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]'', ca. 1485]]

Earliest records mentioning the buckriders originate from a tome called ''Oorzaeke, bewys en ondekkinge van een goddelooze, bezwoorne bende nagtdieven en knevelaers binnen de landen van Overmaeze en aenpalende landstreeken'', which approximately translates to ''Causes, proof and discovery of a godless, averted gang of night thieves and gaggers within the lands of 'Overmaas' and adjacent regions.'' 

This book was written in 1779 by S.J.P. Sleinada (real name Pastor A. Daniels). 
This pastor, who lived in [[Landgraaf]], knew several buckriders personally. The author tells us that these robbers made a pact with the [[Satan|Devil]] and rode their bucks at night. 
The common people told stories about them flying through the sky, pronouncing the following spell: 'Over huis, over tuin, over staak, en dat tot Keulen in de wijnkelder!' (across houses, across gardens, across stakes (fences), even to [[Cologne]] into the wine cellar!).<ref>Anton Blok, De Bokkenrijders, roversbenden en geheime genootschappen in de Landen van Overmaas (1730-1774). (Prometheus, Amsterdam, 1991) p. 33.</ref> 

Both worshiping and riding a goat have been associated with the Witches' Sabbath and other devilish practices for centuries. According to old folk tales, people who had made a pact with the devil moved at night on bucks.<ref>''Folkloristisch Woordenboek'', 1949, p. 43.</ref>

The present interpretation is that a number of criminal gangs robbed houses and committed other crimes, using the myth to their advantage. Also, many of the buckriders that were arrested are thought to be innocent, as confessions were obtained through torture. The condemnation of people because of an impious oath or their alleged alliance with the devil can be compared to the witch trials in Europe between 1450 and 1750 with brutal persecutions. 

In the Overmaasse trials the term 'buckriders' is only mentioned late, probably under the influence of the trial in Wellen. The word 'buck' does appear here in a lawsuit in 1773. In that trial, Mathijs Smeets from [[Beek]] claimed that he and 42 others had sat on large bucks at night and flown to [[Venlo]] to commit a robbery there.<ref>VAN GEHUCHTEN F. Bokkenrijders: Late heksenprocessen in Limburg. Het proces van vier bokkenrijdersgroepen in Limburg (1773-1795). Opglabbeek 2002.</ref>


In historiography, two opposing observations arise about the buckriders:

* The buckriders are said to consist of a large, wicked gang.

* It could be a (partial) illusion of the judiciary at the time.

The first view is found among those who believed that the buckriders have really formed a large gang and had not yet been punished harshly enough. Critical historians, however, who do not accept the torture statements at face value, consider the punishment exaggerated. The pioneer of this trend, Attorney General Gaspard de Limpens, wrote in 1774 about the convicts: "Their statements are full of contradictions, varying versions and violations of logic and the laws of gravity." "They have been punished too harshly and the majority are innocent." "The torture makes those questioned confess what the justice system wants to hear."<ref>VAN GEHUCHTEN F. Bokkenrijders: Late heksenprocessen in Limburg. Het proces van vier bokkenrijdersgroepen in Limburg (1773-1795). Opglabbeek 2002.</ref>
[[image:Bonderkuil12122008.jpg|thumb|De Bonderkuil in [[Wellen]] where nineteen buckriders were executed in 1776]]