From 30 January to 6 February 1696, Amsterdam was the scene of wild rioting. Men, women and children gathered to protest against a proposed change in the burial laws. Not only had the States of Holland introduced a tax on marriages and burials the previous year, but Amsterdammers would soon be required to use only government-approved undertakers. This measure threatened to put many people out of work, while at the same time benefiting the minions of the city governors. It also raised fears of a large increase in the cost of burial.

The new regulations were to come into effect on 1 February. On 31 January, however, the burgomasters were harassed and jeered at in the streets. Municipal soldiers had been posted in various places, but this only made the situation more volatile. There were a great many idle sailors in town who could not leave port at this season, and they too joined the gathering at the Almshouse, where women and children had begun to drum loudly on barrels and buckets. The crowd became so boisterous that the soldiers threatened to shoot. Forming a procession, the protesters marched off to Dam Square, where they posted a placard on the wall of the Town Hall which read ‘house to let’. The authorities were about to issue a severe warning, but when they saw the crowd gathering they instantly announced a six-week postponement of the new burial law: to no avail, however, for the crowd had already started to throw paving stones at the soldiers, who fired back with blanks.