Imagine a late medieval nobleman who, perhaps due to a hormonal condition, grows to be seven feet tall and terrifyingly physically powerful. A complete freak of nature, the man stands head and shoulders above literally everyone in his era. His name is Pier Gerlofs Donia. His life is peaceful until his wife gets raped and murdered by a band of Habsburg marauders, after which he raises an army and all hell breaks loose.
Donia is outnumbered, outgunned, outmatched by the world’s largest empire at the time and in spite of this, manages to remain undefeated both on the battlefield as well as at sea — he also takes to the water as a pirate. In numerous battles he murders countless enemies, and also insists on personally executing those he captures. In one battle he captures as many as 28 enemy ships, killing every single captive by either beheading them or throwing them overboard to drown. Legend has it Donia was capable of beheading multiple men at once with his oversized sword; like its owner, the sword had a length of seven feet from hilt to tip.
Some of the vengeful nobleman’s armor survives until today. I’ll include a photograph of some archeologist having some fun wearing the man’s oversized helmet. It really shows just how massive the guy was and how terrifying it must have been to encounter him in the field of battle. Many giant people are somewhat oddly proportioned, skinny, or have heads seemingly to large for their torso, but this man was just… an absolute unit.
In 1520 the fearful warrior dies, aged only forty. Endless battle injuries have caught up with him. Few men killed as many people as Pier Gerlofs Donia did, and few swords saw as much blood spill. It never brought back his wife… but he avenged her a thousand times over.
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