Leiden is famous for its history. Most notable is the brave defence by its inhabitants during a siege by the Spanish army When all their frontal attacks failed to take the town, the Spaniards decided to starve it into submission. The decimated citizens of Leiden, however, refused to surrender. On the third of October 1574, after months of hunger, illness and starvation, Leiden was finally released by the Dutch rebel army, bringing food supplies over the flooded polders. The third of October ( Leidens Ontzet ) is still a day that is celebrated by the inhabitants of Leiden by eating the same food that was supplied on the third of October 1574: herring, white bread, and hutspot.
