17th-century brothel in Nicholas Goodman’s 'Holland's Leaguer', 1632 (engraving)

Holland’s Leaguer was a notorious 17th-century brothel which stood, near London’s playhouses, on the south bank of the River Thames. It was run by a famous prostitute named Elizabeth Holland, and its prestigious clients included King James I himself. The ‘leaguer’ – meaning fortress – was a mansion with a moat and drawbridge, near Southwark’s Old Paris Garden. In winter 1631–32, King Charles I ordered for it to be raided, but the prostitutes outwitted the soldiers by luring them onto the drawbridge and plunging them in the moat below. Nevertheless, Holland’s Leaguer was closed later that year. Hollands Leaguer: or, an historical discourse of the Life and Actions of Dona Britanica Hollandia the Arch-Mistris of the wicked women of Utopia. Wherein is detected the notorious sinne of panderisme, and the execrable life of the luxurious impudent.