| Te Riviere Castle | |
|---|---|
Huis te Riviere, Huis Mathenesse | |
| Broersvest Schiedam, the Netherlands | |
 Ruins of Te Riviere Castle | |
  Te Riviere Castle | |
| Coordinates | 51°55′05″N4°24′11″E / 51.918177°N 4.402936°E Coordinates: 51°55′05″N4°24′11″E / 51.918177°N 4.402936°E |
| Type | Castle |
| Site information | |
| Open to the public | No |
| Condition | Ruin |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1262 |
| Materials | Brick |
| Events | Siege of 1351 |
Te Riviere Castle (also known as Huis Mathenesse) is a ruinous castle located in Schiedam, Netherlands.
The first reference to the place was in 1268 as Woninghe ter Nieuwer Schie (House on the new Schie). [1] The new Schie was the extension of the Schie now known as Schiedamse Schie. At its confluence with the Nieuwe Maas, Schiedam was built. [2] At the time the branches of the Schie to Rotterdam and Delfshaven did not yet exist. Therefore the preferred route for traffic to Delft and further on to Leiden and Haarlem passed along the site of the castle.
The castle's current name Huis te Riviere (house on the river) sounds suspiciously romantic, but was actually the first accepted name of the castle in medieval times. [3] At the time, and in its context, 'house' meant a type of castle. The river was the river Merwede. After the Old Rhine had been diverted near Wijk bij Duurstede in 1122, the Lek became its main bed. The Lek now flows into the Nieuwe Maas, but in medieval times this was known as Merwede. The current Nieuwe Maas is only fed by the Rhine. Its shore is now about 1.5 km south of the castle, but this reroute of its bed already started in the 13th century.
The castle is also known as Huis Mat(h)enesse. Matenesse was the name of a nearby polder and lordship. Its lord Dirk of Matenesse acquired the castle (Burch) known as House te Riviere in 1339. [3] The castle then obviously took the name of its proprietor. (Which is in contrast to the earlier custom of lords naming themselves after their territory)
The current Te Riviere Castle consist of the remains of the castle as it was when it was destroyed in 1574. The pre-1574 situation is depicted on an old painting that might date from before 1574, or might have been made shortly after. The current ruins consist of a 20 by 17.5 m area. On it are the lower part of a tower house and the foundations of some walls. [4]
The base of the tower house measures 12 by 12 meter. The wing north of it measures 8 by 17.5 m. The remaining southwestern space measured 12.5 by 5.5 m. In an investigation Jaap Renaud concluded that the small west side of the northern wing had a stepped gable, and that the remaining southwestern part was divided in two, and got two west-facing stepped gables, leading to a consistency between the painting, and the archaeological evidence. Renaud concluded that the painting indeed reflected the 1574 situation. [4]
Renaud also stated that the castle would have been a very exceptional construction if the 1574 situation had been the result of the original plans for the castle. [4] The 1947-1948 excavations that Renaud led, allowed him to draw a floor plan of the tower house and part of the 1574 outer bailey. [5] This solved the very important question whether the old painting reflected the pre-1574 situation.
In the context of investigating the relation between the picture and archaeology, Renaud then did something that was scientifically correct, but would later be proven wrong. With respect to the northern wall of the outer bailey, he concluded that this was a replacement of a wall from 1300. [6] For Renaud, Te Riviere was a small castle with an outer bailey, comparable to Middelburg Castle near Alkmaar. [7] However, subsequent archaeological research would lead to very different conclusions.
The current ruins show the remains of an enceinte with buttresses on the inside at a very small distance from the main tower house. This wall was also found on the western side of the supposed outer bailey. It was even known that the wall extended into the moat a bit from the 'keep'. The supposition that it had formed one continuous wall would seem obvious, but it was not. The construction date of Te Riviere Castle lay before the date that the square castle type appeared in Holland, and it would lead to a very large castle suddenly appearing in the history of Holland.
The theory that the oldest castle had been a formidable square castle became logical, when in 1962 archaeologists found that the southern wall of the supposed outer bailey was very similar. See 1975 floor plan. [8] [9]
The conclusion from the archaeological evidence was that in about 1265, the construction of a large 45 by 50 m (almost) square castle with square corner tower was started. On the inside of the northwest corner, was the still remaining 12 by 12 m tower house. This was cut off from the rest of the castle by a small inside moat. [10]
The project for this formidable castle was not completed. Work on the castle and especially the main tower house continued in 1300-1304, but after that the project was left unfinished. In 1339 the castle is granted to Dirk van Matenesse, who begins to finish the main tower, leading to the 1574 castle. [10]
The remaining big tower or Tower house was a free standing building within the square castle. It is supposed that the first phase of the castle was a solitary tower which was surrounded by the big square in about 1260. [7] The situation of a free standing tower inside a square castle is very rare in the current Netherlands. The only other examples that comes to mind is Oud Haerlem Castle dating from about the same time.
The high basement of the tower was closed by a still discernible barrel vault. The basement had four openings to let in light. These were 12 cm wide on the outside, and 95 cm on the inside. The walls of the basement were over three meters thick. Inside the northwest wall were that gave access from the ground floor, which was actually very much above ground, but contained the access to the tower. The current direct access to the basement is a later breakthrough. This also goes for the access from the stairs to the later northern wing on the ground floor level. [11]
The brick used in the foundation of the tower was the biggest found on the site in 1947-1948. It generally measured 28 cm with a thickness of 7.5-8 cm, but some 31-32 cm long. Higher up the exceptional lengths are not found. The brick above the basement is generally red, while the lower sections contain many yellowish bricks. [12] This points to a construction break. Another clear indication is that after the basement was finished, it was allowed to sag into the ground on the eastern side, which necessitated a layer of cut bricks to make the construction level again before building the ground floor. The ground floor itself had walls of only 1.40 m thick. Here the stairs continued to the first floor. [13] The ground floor had windows in the south and east walls, and probably also in the west wall. The south side had a toilet and a niche for a Lavabo with a sink of red stone. The north wall had a fireplace. [14] From a drawing we know that the first floor had two windows in the east wall. It might be that the stairs protruded from the tower at this level, as is shown by the 1574 painting. [15] Above the first floor was a hip roof with merlons. [7]
It has been claimed that the castle did not exist yet in 1268. [16] Others claim that the big tower was surrounded by the square castle in 1260. [7] The castle is mentioned for the first time as a castle on 18 March 1275, when Adelaide of Holland gave city rights to her new city near the Huys te Revier, i.e. Schiedam. [17] In 1276 Aleid gave the abbey of Koningsveld the right to appoint one of its brothers to service the castle's chapel in exchange for 10 pounds a year. [18]
Aleid (c.1260-1284) was the sister of count William II of Holland. William II (1227-1256) had a son and heir Floris V, Count of Holland (1254-1296), Aleid became his regent. Aleid had a son John and 5 younger sons, amongst them Florent of Hainaut. In 1272 Florent became Floris' lieutenant in Zeeland. In 1277 this led to conflict, because Florent built fortified places and made himself liege lord of other fortified places in Holland. Te Riviere Castle would have played its part in the conflict. It led to the eviction of Aleid and her son from Holland and Zeeland. [18]
In 1299 the Avesnes family succeeded in its ambitions when John became count of Holland. Te Riviere Castle then became less important. Dirk of Matenesse first appears in history in 1335. [19] In 1339 Te Riviere Castle was granted to Knight Dirk of Matenesse as a fief that could be inherited by his sons. [3] After his death in February 1345 it was granted to his brother Daniël of Matenesse in May 1345. In September 1346 he got it granted as a fief which could be inherited by his siblings and children. [20] By 1350, the castle was inhabited, but probably not finished yet. [18]
The Hook and Cod Wars started in earnest after William of Bavaria came to Holland in the first days of February 1351. On 13 February he arrived in Delft, the center of the Cod party. Te Riviere Castle was taken by the Cod Alliance before 25 March. [21] Some state that there was no siege, [22] but in the 15th century Simon van der Sluys stated that Daniël of Matenesse had surrendered the castle to those of Delft after a siege. [23]
The speed by which the castle was taken can be explained by its importance for the trade of the Cod cities Delft and Schiedam. Another explanation is that at the time the castle was still so big that it could not be defended by a minor lord like Dirk of Matenesse. The citizens of Schiedam immediately took action after the siege, and demolished most of the huge castle. In the end Dirk was left with not much more than the keep, and a huge heap of rubble. [24]
Dirk is now qualified as a 'not so fanatic' Hook, who changed to the Cod side before 28 December 1351. [24] What is remarkable is that Dirk's lands were not forfeited. [25] The historian De Geer already suggested that Daniël changed sides. [26]
From the above it can be assumed that Dirk then built the north wing, and that the southwest wing of the keep was built before 1400. [12] In 1426 the castle might have been plundered by Willem Nagel. Meanwhile the Matenesse family held on to the castle, aided by the easy inheritance conditions.
The Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) would prove fatal to the castle. In 1574 the Republican soldiers on the castle twice caused a fire. The citizens of Schiedam then demolished the castle by pulling over its walls, which were found in the moats exactly 400 years later. The upper part of the tower was also demolished. [25]
For many years the ruins of Te Riviere Castle stood free outside the city walls. After archaeological investigations the town hall offices were then extended over the area between the keep and the (supposed) outer bailey. The poor visual quality of the buildings and other choices made that by the 2010s there were plans to redevelop the area.
By 2021 the plans include ideas to make the remaining ruins more visible. [27] These are now dwarfed by the municipality offices. See photograph's.
Schiedam is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village of Pernis by the Beneluxtunnel.
Zeist is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands and is the capital of the municipality Zeist, located east of the city of Utrecht.
Adelaide of Holland, Countess of Hainaut, was a Dutch regent. She was a daughter of Floris IV, Count of Holland and Matilda of Brabant. She was also a sister of William II, Count of Holland and King of Germany. She acted as regent for her nephew Count Floris V during his minority.
Albert I, Duke of Lower Bavaria, was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries. Additionally, he held a portion of the Bavarian province of Straubing, his Bavarian ducal line's appanage and seat, Lower Bavaria.
The (First) Battle of Vlaardingen was fought on 29 July 1018 between troops of the Holy Roman Empire and West Frisia. As a result of a trade dispute, Emperor Henry II sent an army towards West Frisia to subdue the rebellious Count Dirk III. However, the Imperial army was decisively defeated and fled in panic.
The Battle of Zwartewaal was a decisive naval battle during the Hook and Cod wars
Dirk III van Brederode was lord of Brederode.
Schielands Hoge Zeedijk, formerly called Hoogendijk is a Dutch dike in the province of South Holland that stretches from the Schie at Schiedam to the Gouwe near Gouda. Constructed in the 13th century, the dike continues to protect an area inhabited by 3 million people from flooding by the North Sea.
Fahid Bashir Minhas is a Dutch politician of the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He worked as a real estate developer and became a member of the Schiedam municipal council in 2014. He then served as alderman in the same city between 2018 and 2021 and, while in that position, encouraged the construction of housing. Minhas was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2021 general election.
Heusden Castle is a ruined major castle in Heusden.
Dussen Castle is a water castle that got its peculiar form after being destroyed by the St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421.
Altena Castle is a former castle in Almkerk. It was home to the lords of Altena, and often of the lords of Horne and Altena.
Kasteel Giessen was a castle in Giessen, Netherlands. It was rediscovered in 2013, but was not made visible.
Oud Haerlem Castle was a very strong castle in Holland. In 1351 it was demolished after a long siege.
Polanen Castle was a castle located in today's Monster, South Holland in the Netherlands. The ancestral home of the Polanen family, it suffered a siege in 1351 and was demolished in 1394. It was replaced by a small manor somewhat to the south.
The Battle of Veere was a small naval battle that took place in late May 1351 during the Hook and Cod wars.
Binckhorst Castle is a 16th and 17th century manor built on top of a demolished medieval castle.
Jacob Gerard Nicolaas (Jaap) Renaud was a Dutch archaeologist and buitengewoon hoogleraar at Utrecht University.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Huis te Riviere . |