2014 topographic map of the municipality of Woerden
Woerden (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈʋuːrdə(n)]ⓘ) is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commuters who work in those cities.
The river Oude Rijn used to flow through the city center of Woerden, but in 1960 the old river was diverted around the city center. The city has a long and rich history in cheese making and trading; for years Gouda cheese for domestic and international use has been produced in this region. Woerden still holds its authentic (since 1885) cheese market at the market place in its center.
Roman castellum
Underground parking facility Castellum with photos of Roman archeological finds
Woerden is situated on the river Oude Rijn, near the confluence with the former Linschoten (water)[nl] stream. The lower stretch of the Linschoten stream from Montfoort and Linschoten to Woerden silted up a long time ago and its flow was diverted through the Lek and Hollandse IJssel rivers, but at one time it was an important branch of the Rhinedelta, connecting the Lower Rhine from Wijk bij Duurstede to the Oude Rijn near Woerden. Near the former confluence was an area that was slightly more elevated than the surroundings, a natural levee, which — in an area that is prone to flooding — made it an attractive location for settlement.
Here, at the highest spot, the Romans built a castellum (Castellum Laurum), as part of the limes of the Roman Empire and thus part of the defense lines of the northern border of the Roman Empire. The first castellum was built in the 40s AD and was destroyed in 69 AD during the Batavian rebellion. In 70 AD, the castellum was rebuilt, and the Romans remained until 402 AD, with an interruption lasting from about 275-300 AD.
The Castellum was located at the present site of the medieval Petruschurch and surrounding churchyard. During construction work on a new underground parking facility in the city center of Woerden, the remains of numerous old Roman buildings and a Roman cargo ship were found. During field research, a lot became known about the Roman time in Woerden: the location of the castellum, the zone of defense waters with the entrance road and the remains of a Roman cargo ship.[5]
The dark ages
Little is known about the period after the Romans left for good in 402 AD. It may be assumed that people continued to live here, but there is little archaeological evidence. A Frankish sword dated from the 8th century has been found on the site of the Roman Castellum in 2012. The area was contested between Frisians and Franks. Frankish King Dagobert I conquered the area around 630, and a small church was built in nearby Utrecht. Around 650, the Frisians came back, destroyed the Frankish church in Utrecht, and the Frisian king established his court there. Then, in 689 king Redbad was defeated by Frankish DukePippin of Herstal in the battle of Dorestad and the Franks regained control of the area. King Redbad reconquered Utrecht after Pippin died in 714, but the Frisian victory was short-lived: DukeCharles Martel defeated Redbad in 718. In 734, Charles Martel went on to vanquish the Frisians, in the Battle of the Boarn.
The missionaries followed in the footsteps of the Frankish conquerors: In 695 AD, Willibrord, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" became Bishop of Utrecht, with interruptions due to Frisian incursions. Boniface worked here from 719 to 722. Liudger reports that Boniface preached in Wyrda, referring to Wierde, meaning that the place was on higher ground in the area. Around 850, the Bishop had to leave once more, this time because of Viking marauders. Bishop Balderik returned to Utrecht in 918, after the Viking threat subsided. The Bishop claims Woerden as part of his jurisdiction: In a list prepared between 918 and 948 it is mentioned that In UUrdin totum Sancti Martini,[6] meaning: In Woerden everything belongs to Saint Martin, i.e. the church in Utrecht.
Around 1000 AD, settlement was limited to the river banks; further inland were undeveloped bogs. The bishops used their new authority to stimulate reclamation of this wilderness. Concessions were granted to settlers, who drained the bogs by digging dividing ditches beginning from rivers and streams and stretching about ¾ mile inland, thus creating the characteristic grid of fields still seen today. By about 1300 AD, the reclamation process had been completed.
In the meantime, a competing realm had developed to the west, along the coast. First known as West Frisia it became known as Holland when Floris II, Count of Holland moved his court to Leiden in 1101. The Counts of Holland expanded their influence, and by 1165 they built a fort called Svadeburg, near present-day Zwammerdam, about 7 miles to the west of Woerden. Around 1160, BishopGodfrey van Rhenen built a castle in Woerden. Once more Woerden became a border town between two belligerent powers, a situation that lasted until 1527 when the Bishop of Utrecht sold his territories to Emperor Charles V and the two statelets were united under Charles' rule. Due to its strategic location on the border between the County of Holland and the Bishopric of Utrecht, various wars have been fought in and around Woerden by the various lords and ladies of these realms.
From about 1131 to 1296, the van Woerden family dominated local affairs in Woerden. Several scions of the family are known as Herman van Woerden. Originally they were stewards of the castle for the Bishop, but in time they sought to become independent. In 1274 Herman VI van Woerden formed an alliance with Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel, and revolted against bishop-elect John of Nassau. In 1278, Floris V, Count of Holland, intervened on the side of the much-weakened bishop, and defeated the rebellious lords. Gijsbrecht was taken prisoner, and Herman went into exile. In 1281, Floris V was awarded the lands of the rebellious lords, including Amsterdam and Woerden. In a 1288 peace agreement Floris restored the Lordship of Woerden to Herman van Woerden, but now as a vassal of the count. However, Herman did not prove himself to be a trustworthy vassal: in 1296 the humiliated lords Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel and Herman van Woerden entered the scene again as part of a conspiracy. Together with Gerard van Velzen they captured count Floris during a hunting party and the count was assassinated. In the aftermath, Gerard van Velzen was killed, and Herman van Woerden went again into exile. In 1300, John II, Count of Holland awarded the Lordship of Woerden to his brother Guy of Avesnes, who became Bishop of Utrecht the following year. In 1311, Guy returned the Lordship to his nephew, Count William III, and Woerden remained part of Holland thereafter.
Map of Woerden (c. 1557)
Around 1370 bailiffWillem II van Naaldwijk[nl] ordered the construction of defensive walls and a moat to fortify the city, in order to shield Holland from renewed hostilities with Utrecht. Woerden received city rights from Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, and Count of Holland in 1372, even though Woerden was still a small town that harboured no more than about 720 citizens. Around the same time the Petruschurch was built; part of its steeple still stands. In 1410 John III, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing had the castle of Woerden constructed, and in 1510 the city hall was built. These buildings still exist, although the castle was extensively altered and renovated through the years.
On 1 November 1425, Woerden chose the side of Philip the Good in the conflict with Jacoba van Beieren, after Philip confirmed the town privileges and promised that the Lordship of Woerden would never be separated from the County of Holland by awarding it to someone else. During the reign of the Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good (1419–1467) and Charles the Bold (1467–1477) Woerden enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace, and by 1477 its population had almost tripled to about 1920. Charles the Bold's death before the gates of Nancy was the prelude to renewed unrest, both with Utrecht and the duchy of Guelders, and the town suffered economic hardship because of it.
Heretics and rebels
Erasmus probably spent his boyhood from age five to nine in Woeden in the household of his father, the local priest from 1471.[7]
The reign of Charles V was a period of relative peace and prosperity for Woerden, despite religious unrest. In April 1522, Charles V introduced the Inquisition in the Low Countries.
Johannes Pistorius Woerdensis (Jan de Bakker), a catholic priest, was the first preacher in the Northern Netherlands to be martyred as a direct result of his religious beliefs. His father was a sexton in Woerden and also tenant of the brickworks, and his surname was derived from that profession.
Jan de Bakker was a pupil of Hinne Rode[nl] (Johannes Rhodius), headmaster of St. Jerome School of the Brethren of the Common Life in Utrecht. Rode was a proponent of Sacramentarianism, and in 1520 his father called Jan back to Woerden, perhaps out of concern about those heretic views. Jan transferred to Leuven, and in 1522 completed his education there. He returned to Woerden, was ordained in Utrecht as a priest, and assisted his father as sexton and deacon.
Jan started to spread the heretic views, and in May 1523 he and another priest were arrested by the steward of the castle. After a short while they were released, and it is thought that the two travelled to Wittenberg, but there is no evidence he met with Martin Luther. After he returned he continued his preachings, and the conflict with the Roman Catholic Church was further aggravated by the fact that he broke his celibacy, and got married. In the night of 9 May 1525, he was arrested and the next day transferred to The Hague, where he appeared before the Inquisition. He was defrocked and sentenced to death, and on 15 September 1525 burned at the stake in The Hague. His widow saved her live by recanting the heresies and lived out her life in an abbey.
The old stadhuis (city hall) in Woerden, now a museum
The city magistrates of Woerden were tolerant towards the Lutheran confession. In 1566 this resulted in a confrontation with duke Eric of Brunswick, who was Lord of Woerden at that time.
In the wake of iconoclasticriots that swept the country in 1566 a prominent citizen of Woerden, Warnaer Claesz, petitioned the city magistrates to introduce the Augsburg Confession. There was also a disruption of the church worship. As a precaution, the city magistrates removed icons and other valuables from the church and stored them in a safe place, and closed the church. The court of Holland concurred with the actions taken by the city magistrates, but Duke Eric of Brunswick objected. He demanded that Catholic worship would be restored. The city magistrates delayed by questioning his authority in this matter. Duke Eric responded by raising a small army and forced the city magistrates to comply.
Duke Eric was also instrumental in suppressing the ill-fated rebellion of Hendrik van Brederode, Lord of Vianen. After the rebel army was defeated in the Battle of Oosterweel (13 March 1567) Eric of Brunswick captured Vianen on May 5, 1567.
In later history, the town saw occupation by the Spanish (1575, 1576) and the French (1672, 1673, and particularly disastrous in 1813).
In 1989, there was a local redrawing of province boundaries as a result of which Woerden found itself transferred from South Holland to the province of Utrecht. In 2015, the city's refugee centre formed the scene of a violent attack by 20 hooded people, bearing fireworks and pushing down fences.[9]
Woerden train accident (November 1960), an accident with a British furlough train (2 deaths, 10 injured)
Harmelen train disaster (January 1962), head-on collision, the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands (93 deaths)
Related Research Articles
Utrecht, officially the Province of Utrecht, is a province of the Netherlands. It is located in the centre of the country, bordering the Eemmeer in the north-east, the province of Gelderland in the east and south-east, the province of South Holland in the west and south-west and the province of North Holland in the north-west and north. The province of Utrecht has a population of about 1,388,000 as of January 2023. With a land area of approximately 1,484 square kilometres (573 sq mi), it is the second smallest province in the country. Apart from its eponymous capital, major cities and towns in the province are Amersfoort, Houten, IJsselstein, Nieuwegein, Veenendaal and Zeist. The busiest railway station in the Netherlands, Utrecht Centraal, is located in the province of Utrecht.
The Bishopric of Utrecht was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it was ruled by the bishops of Utrecht.
Floris V reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modernizing administration, policies beneficial to trade, generally acting in the interests of his peasants at the expense of nobility, and reclaiming land from the sea. His dramatic murder, said by some to have been arranged by King Edward I of England and Guy, Count of Flanders, made him a hero in Holland.
Radbod was the king of Frisia from c. 680 until his death. He is often considered the last independent ruler of Frisia before Frankish domination. He defeated Charles Martel at Cologne. Eventually, Charles prevailed and compelled the Frisians to submit. Radbod died in 719, but for some years his successors struggled against the Frankish power.
The County of Holland was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. The territory of the County of Holland corresponds roughly with the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland in the Netherlands.
Dirk III was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his mother. It is thought that Dirk III went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 1030, hence his nickname of Hierosolymita.
The Guelders Wars were a series of conflicts in the Low Countries between the Duke of Burgundy, who controlled Holland, Flanders, Brabant, and Hainaut on the one side, and Charles, Duke of Guelders, who controlled Guelders, Groningen, and Frisia on the other side.
Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel or Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel was a powerful lord in the medieval County of Holland and a member of the Van Aemstel family. His territory was Amstelland, and his son was Jan I of Amstel.
The van Amstel family was an influential dynasty in the medieval Netherlands from the twelfth until the fourteenth century. The family developed the Amstelland and held the stewardship in the ecclesiastical districts in the northwest of the Nedersticht of Utrecht, first in the name of the bishop of Utrecht and later the count of Holland.
Frisian freedom was the absence of feudalism and serfdom in Frisia, the area that was originally inhabited by the Frisians. Historical Frisia included the modern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, and the area of West Friesland, in the Netherlands, and East Friesland in Germany. During the period of Frisian freedom the area did not have a sovereign lord who owned and administered the land. The freedom of the Frisians developed in the context of ongoing disputes over the rights of local nobility.
The Frisian–Frankish wars were a series of conflicts between the Frankish Empire and the Frisian kingdom in the 7th and 8th centuries.
John of Nassau, German: Johann von Nassau, Dutch: Jan van Nassau was a clergyman from the House of Nassau. From 1267 to 1290 he was Bishop-Elect of the Bishopric of Utrecht as John I. He did not care much for his spiritual functions, and his government also failed due to his weak political and poor financial management. During his reign, the influence of the County of Holland in the Bishopric greatly increased. John's government was one of the worst the Bishopric had to endure; without talent and energy, slavishly surrendering to all sensual pleasures, it was never possible for him to maintain the inner peace, under which the Nedersticht in particular suffered greatly.
The Frisian Kingdom, also known as Magna Frisia, is a modern name for the post-Roman Frisian realm in Western Europe in the period when it was at its largest (650–734). This dominion was ruled by kings and emerged in the mid-7th century and probably ended with the Battle of the Boarn in 734 when the Frisians were defeated by the Frankish Empire. It lay mainly in what is now the Netherlands and – according to some 19th century authors – extended from the Zwin near Bruges in Belgium to the Weser in Germany. The center of power was the city of Utrecht.
Herman VI van Woerden was a lord of Woerden.
The Seignory of Frisia or Seignory of Friesland was a feudal dominion in the Netherlands. It was formed in 1498 by King Maximilian I and reformed in 1524 when Emperor Charles V conquered Frisia.
The historic Diocese of Utrecht was a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church from 695 to 1580, and from 1559 archdiocese in the Low Countries before and during the Protestant Reformation.
The Kennemer uprising was a rebellion of farmers in the County of Holland and Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in the Holy Roman Empire, that took place between 1272 and 1274. The commoners or huislieden from the Kennemerland, a bailiwick within the County of Holland, rose up against their bailiff and the other nobles. The movement spread to the nearby West Friesland, Waterland and Amstelland. The lord of Amstelland, Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel decided to join the insurrenction and became the leader of the Kennemers. Later Utrecht, Amersfoort and Eemland also joined. Eventually, the Kennemers were defeated.
The siege of Montfoort took place in 1280 when Count Floris V of Holland attacked the castle of lord Herman VI van Woerden at Montfoort in the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht. The siege ended after half a year when the soldiers inside the castle surrendered. The primary source for the siege is the Rijmkroniek van Holland by Melis Stoke.
The siege of Vredelant took place from late 1279 to 1280 and was fought between Floris V of Holland and Bishop-Elect John I of Nassau on one side and the rebellious Van Amstel family on the other side. The castle of Vredelant was taken within weeks when Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel was captured by the count's soldiers.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
