Tallest Woman

Trijntje Keever was the tallest woman that ever lived, measuring 254 centimeters or 8 feet and 4 inches.

Trijntje Keever

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Trijntje Keever

Trijntje Cornelisdochter Keever (Edam, The Netherlands, April 10 or 16 1616 – Ter Veen (Veere?), July 22, 1633), was nicknamed ‘De Groote Meid’ (in English ‘The Big Girl’) and was probably the tallest woman that ever lived, measuring 254 centimeters or 8 feet and 4 inches.

[edit] Biography

Trijntje Keever was the daughter of Cornelis Keever and Anna Pouwels. Cornelis was a skipper and Anna his maid, whom he married op May 24, 1605.

Trijntje’s parents took her to carnivals to earn some money by letting people see her. The first time Trijntje was mentioned was on June 30, 1625 when she was nine years old and had reached a height of 2 meters, 6 foot 6 inches. A royal company consisting of the Bohemian king Frederick V, Elector Palatine, his wife Elizabeth of Bohemia and the princess Amalia van Solms-Braunfels, living in The Hague at the time were curious of a ‘nine-year-old being miraculously tall’.

Trijntje died of cancer, at 17 years of age. She was buried on July 7 1633 in Edam, her town of birth. Her epitaph is said to have been ‘Trijntje Crelis groote meidt oudt 17 jaer’, or, in English: ‘Trijntje Crelis, big girl, 17 years of age’. In the townhall of Edam is a lifesize painting by an unknown artist portraying Trijntje in civilian clothes with a belt holding at her right a keyring and on her left a pincushion and a sheath with a knife, fork and spoon. Her shoes are shown, European size 55, 40 cms long, 16 inches.