Catharina Louisa Maria Alberdingk Thijm (November 29, 1848 - January 14, 1908) was a prominent Dutch novelist, editor, and social worker in the late 19th century.Partner Louise Stratenus
Queer Places:
Herengracht 167, 1015 BJ Amsterdam, Netherlands
Catharina Louisa Maria Alberdingk Thijm (November 29, 1848 - January 14, 1908) was a prominent Dutch novelist, editor, and social worker in the late 19th century.
Catharina was born in Amsterdam into a prominent Roman Catholic literary family. She was the daughter of writer and art history professor Josephus Albertus Alberdingk Thijm and the sister of author Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm (better known by his pen name Lodewijk van Deyssel).
In mid-1854, the Alberdingk Thijm family moved to Herengracht 167, located at the corner of Kloksteeg / Warmoesgracht, known historically as De Arend. Catharina spent her formative childhood years here before entering boarding school in 1860.
She attended Catholic boarding schools in Germany and Belgium. In May 1870, she entered the convent order of the Filles de la Croix, taking the religious name Sister Josphe. However, in 1877 she left the convent, preferring an independent life dedicated to writing and social advocacy.
Alberdingk Thijm was a prolific author who wrote over 30 novels, numerous plays, fairy tales, and around 1,500 newspaper and magazine articles.
She founded and edited magazines dedicated to young women, most notably De Hollandsche Lelie (1892) and Lelie- en Rozeknoppen (1882), aiming to provide intellectually engaging material for young women outside traditional domestic expectations.
She actively advocated for destitute women and children. In 1895, she opened a shelter in Amsterdam for homeless women and young mothers and sympathized with social reform movements like the Salvation Army.
During the late 19th century, female independence, domestic partnership, and same-sex romantic relationships often existed in a nuanced social space. Catharina Alberdingk Thijm lived outside conventional Victorian gender expectations, never marrying and maintaining a prominent, long-term romantic cohabitation with another prominent woman.
In 1881, Catharina met Jonkvrouw Louise Stratenus, an aristocrat, recent convert to Catholicism, and fellow novelist. The two formed an immediate and intense connection. For over a decade (1881–1894), they lived together continuously, setting up joint households in key European cities including London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Their union was publicly integrated into family life. Catharina's father, the influential Catholic writer Josephus Albertus Alberdingk Thijm, embraced Louise, warmly addressing her in correspondence as his "bien chère amie" ("very dear friend").
In 1892, Catharina published her autobiographical key novel (sleutelroman), Verwoest Leven (Ruined Life). In it, she chronicled the formation of her relationship with Stratenus, reflecting the emotional intensity and personal significance of their bond.
In 19th-century Dutch society, relationships like Catharina and Louise's were typically framed as "boezemvriendinnen" (bosom friends) or "romantic friendships".
Nineteenth-century society often turned a blind eye to intense, cohabiting relationships between educated women, viewing them through a lens of refined domestic companionship rather than sexual deviance. Modern queer historiography, however, analyzes these lifelong cohabitations—where women deliberately eschewed marriage to men to share homes, finances, and emotional lives—as foundational antecedents to modern lesbian and same-sex partnerships.
The domestic partnership between Catharina and Louise came to an end in 1894. Following their separation, Catharina redirected her focus toward social work, establishing a sanctuary for homeless women and unwed mothers in Amsterdam in 1895.
Despite their eventual split, their lives remained deeply intertwined in time: when Catharina passed away in Amsterdam on January 14, 1908, Louise was gravely ill at her residence in Princenhage and died just two months later, on March 20, 1908.
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