The fortified town of Bredevoort has a history dating back to (at least) the year 945. At that time, Bredevoort was nothing more than a passable crossing amidst a largely impenetrable swamp. It was, however, a very important passage, as Bredevoort was situated on the major trade route from Bocholt to Zutphen.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, Bredevoort developed further into an important fortified town. In 1350, Bredevoort was granted minting rights, and in 1388, it even officially received city rights, marking the first mention of the city of Bredevoort: ‘onse borch, huys ende stat tot Bredervoert‘ (our castle, house, and city at Bredevoort).
During the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648), Bredevoort became involved in the fighting between the States and Spanish troops and was besieged and captured several times. After the siege by Maurice of Nassau (the later Prince of Orange) in 1597, a strong States garrison was stationed in the town. The bond with the Dutch Royal House has remained consistently strong over time. King Willem-Alexander still holds the official title ‘Lord of Bredevoort’.
The garrison town of Bredevoort became part of the eastern line of defense, and plans were subsequently made to reinforce the city. The fortress was strengthened and enlarged; a wide moat was constructed around the six bastions: Vreesniet, Treurniet, Onversaegt, Stoltenborg, Welgemoed, and Ossenkop.
The remains of the fortifications on the north-western side of Bredevoort were designated as a National Monument in 1967 (numbers 6874 and 6875).
Historical Description
In 1938, G.H. Rots wrote a series of articles in the Aaltensche Courant regarding the history of the municipality of Aalten. He wrote the following about the Bredevoort fortress:
“The historian Sloet mentions that ‘Breitenfurt’ was already spoken of in 945. In old documents, one also reads of ‘Breitenfurt’, ‘Breyden-Oort’, ‘Bredevoorde’, or ‘Breevoort’. In daily conversation, it is still sometimes called ‘Brevoort’. The word itself indicates a connection of higher grounds over low grounds, water, marshes, etc. For all around Bredevoort was low land, full of reeds and rushes, which was passable during very dry summers, and even then only on the highest parts. And there, between those marshes, was a raised mound upon which the strong fortress ‘Breevoort’ was built in earlier times. In diameter, it was approximately 300 meters, or about 10,000 m2. But a great deal has transpired on that small spot over the centuries.”
In the year just mentioned, 945, the town had to pay eight ounces of silver annually to the monastery in Fulda. Because the fortress was surrounded by marshes, it was one of the strongest strongholds and nearly impossible to capture. There were two access roads: the ‘Aalterpoort‘ on the north-west side, roughly where the Roman Catholic school stands today. The road through the Koppele was only constructed in the last century. Before then, one always had to take the detour around the Koppele. In the east was the ‘Misterpoort‘. Some writers also refer to it as the ‘Münsterpoort’.
The Lordship of Bredevoort included the jurisdictions of Aalten, Winterswijk, and Dinxperlo and was originally the possession of the bishops of Utrecht. One of the bishops, named Godefroy van Rhenen, founded the castle at Bredevoort, which stood on the site where ‘t Zand is now located. To this castle or court belonged several manorial estates, including the Havezate de Pol near Aalten. Several contributions regarding this manorial system and related matters have appeared, including in Mr. J. A. Nijhof’s book ‘Bijdrage tot de Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis’ (Contribution to National History), and it is also discussed at length in B. Stegeman’s well-known book ‘Het kerspel Winterswijk’. Anyone wishing to know more should consult that book in the library of the Gebr. de Boer company.
In 1238, the Counts of Loon came into possession of the Lordship. One of those counts, Herman van Loon, transferred the property as a fief in 1246 to Otto van Nassau, Count of Gelre and Zutphen. In the Battle of Tekelenburg in 1276, Herman van Loon was victorious; he captured his opponent, Count Engelbert van der Mark, and took him to the castle at Bredevoort.
That Count van der Mark soon met his end there; he died of boredom and homesickness. His son, however, Everhard van der Mark, took revenge and captured Bredevoort in 1278, destroying the castle and subsequently transporting his father’s body to Kappenberg. Through the intervention of the Bishop of Münster, Everhard, a peace treaty was soon established between Count Everhard van der Mark and Herman van Loon, in which the Count of Loon pledged not to rebuild the castle until he had made a two-year journey to the Holy Land (the days of the Crusades).
A short time later, another transaction seems to have taken place, for in 1284 the owner was Baldewinn van Steinfurt, who sold half of the property—namely the northern part of the castle with the associated lands in Aalten—to Bishop Everhard of Münster. However, the lineage of the Counts of Loon became extinct at the beginning of the 14th century, and when the last descendant was carried to the grave, discord arose over the inheritance. The then Bishop of Münster, Ludwig, and Reinald of Gelre both laid claim to the inheritance of the Counts of Loon. It even came to fighting, and both aforementioned potentates brought their armies into battle array, fighting each other to the death.
Reinald of Gelre had his sights set on Bredevoort, and in 1326, he entered the fortress victoriously. Peace was signed at Coesfeld, and by that peace treaty, Bredevoort became the property of Reinald of Gelre. In 1388, the Lordship was transferred as a pledge to Hendrik van Gemen, who had to pay the sum of 3,000 French shields, which was approximately 6,300 guilders in Dutch currency.
Later, with the consent of the States of Gelderland, the pledge was transferred to Jacob van Bronkhorst, Lord of Anholt. Finally, in 1580, the Lordship was transferred as a pledge to Prince William I. His successors continued this possession in the same manner. Finally, in 1732, upon the division of the inheritance of William III between the King of Prussia and William Charles Henry Friso, the Lordship of Bredevoort was awarded to the latter. It then formed part of the domains of the House of Orange-Nassau under the management of a steward, who reported annually to the Prince’s councilors and auditors.
The Prince appointed a drossaard (bailiff), as well as a judge with their deputies. A stadtholder, land scribe, and advocate-fiscal were also appointed. Every fortnight, a court day for civil matters was held in the Lordship for the four jurisdictions mentioned above. The courts consisted of the drossaard or his deputy, the land scribe or secretary, and two assessors or ‘keurnooten’. Furthermore, the government of the city of Bredevoort rested with two mayors.
As we have already noted, Bredevoort was a strong fortress due to its natural location. In addition to the castle, there were very good bastions. (A ‘gabion book’ of the former fortress is still kept in the State Archives depot in Arnhem. Anyone wishing to know more details should go and browse there).
While Bredevoort was a strong fortress due to its natural location, it was not a walled fortress until 1545. The well-known and famous commander Maarten van Rossum ensured that the fortress was further reinforced. Around the aforementioned year, he had the moat dug and a rampart constructed. The portion of the moat that still exists was therefore dug nearly 400 years ago. It must have been incredibly busy around the fortress. A few years ago, to combat unemployment, a large part of the moat was filled in with soil from the raised ramparts. A small piece of the rampart has been preserved as a historical site.
Inside the gates, the situation was also different than it is today. There were narrow streets and alleys. In the cellars of many houses, there were escape or shelter tunnels. During the demolition of an old cellar a few years ago, such a shelter tunnel was revealed. It is also claimed that there was an underground passage from ‘t Walfort Castle to Bredevoort. During previous excavations at ‘t Zand, such a passage is said to have been discovered. However, people did not dare to venture far into it due to the foul or toxic air present. It would be worthwhile to pay attention to this when digging sewers. That there were underground shelters is certain, but we doubt the existence of a connecting road as mentioned above.
The noise of war and military activity echoed within the fortress for centuries. Even into the 18th century, three companies of infantry were garrisoned in Bredevoort under the command of a commander, who had a major under him. Especially during the Eighty Years’ War, things were intense in and around Bredevoort. In the late sixteenth century, the Spanish held the fortress. On the first of October 1597, Prince Maurice arrived before Bredevoort with his army. He summoned the garrison, which consisted of only two banners of infantry, to surrender. But they replied that they would keep their weapons for God and the King until their final breath. The Spanish relied on the natural strength of the fortress. Prince Maurice then laid siege to Bredevoort.
As mentioned, there were two access dikes to Bredevoort, but Prince Maurice had a third access road constructed through the Koppele. That road through the marsh was made with sand and brushwood. The sand was brought in bags by the soldiers. In just 8 days, that road, 500 paces in length, was completed. It was then possible to take a height across the moat, suitable for placing 20 pieces of artillery. A murderous fire was then opened upon the fortress. But the besieged defended themselves bravely, and many attackers were killed.
The fortress walls suffered greatly from the cannon fire, and several cracks and breaches had already appeared, yet the garrison still did not surrender. The moat was an obstacle to bringing troops to the front of the ramparts and walls. But Prince Maurice was resourceful, and he had his men build a floating bridge, a kind of cork or rush bridge. This was placed in the moat, providing access to the rampart and creating two points of attack. Count Solms led that attack on the eastern side, from the direction of the Broek. But the resistance was not yet broken. The besieged returned the enemy fire with cannon and muskets. The besiegers were also pelted with stones, and many stormers bit the dust. But it could not last much longer; the attacks became increasingly fierce until finally, a drummer from the city appeared on the wall and gave a signal that they wished to negotiate. But an enemy bullet struck him, and the drummer, who came with peaceful intentions, was killed by a bullet.
The inhabitants of the fortress renewed the attempt to negotiate. They held up sticks with hats, but the besiegers paid no attention to this. Then the women went onto the ramparts to testify to the will to surrender. It is incomprehensible that the besiegers still paid no heed to this. Did they fear a trap, or was it the cruelty of that era that demanded blood? In any case, Maurice’s sailors stormed the stone bastion, entered the fortress, and immediately killed 70 people. The survivors fled to the castle, which was immediately surrendered unconditionally by treaty on October 9th. Prince Maurice spared the lives of all, but stipulated a sum of money for his troops, which was later waived.
Except for the castle and 20 houses, all buildings, including the church, had burned down. The Spanish commander Domiaan Gardot was granted mercy, although he was initially to be executed. During the Spanish occupation, this Gardot had made himself hated by the citizenry.
Prince Maurice, who had entered the gates of Bredevoort victoriously, stayed in Bredevoort for only a few days. He moved further north. A few months earlier, he had taken Groenlo, and now he went via Groenlo to the Overijssel region to make conquests there. Bredevoort kept a small garrison, and the population worked with all their might to rebuild the burned houses. But hardly had the building begun when fire broke out again, and of the approximately 20 houses that had been spared during the siege, 14 burned down, leaving only 6 houses.
There was bitter suffering then. The church had to be rebuilt, but the means were lacking, and letters of appeal were sent to sister congregations for support. However, they did not lose heart. They began rebuilding the church and the burned houses, and gradually the town had habitable houses again. But it was and remained wartime, and dangers threatened from all sides.
In 1606, the Spanish appeared before the city again. It was Shrove Tuesday, and people wanted to celebrate in the city. The soldiers, in particular, were out on the town. There was celebration and merriment, and the soldiers drank heavily. And while they were having fun, the enemy crept up. The Spanish commander Du Terrail arrived quietly from Oldenzaal with 1,200 men and appeared before the city gates in the evening. The guard was on duty, and they were told that the newcomers were soldiers of Prince Maurice being pursued by the Spanish. They lied to the guard and even claimed they had captured a Spanish lieutenant. They requested permission to stay under the protection of the fortress. The guard sent a message to headquarters, and while deliberations were taking place there, it was realized they had been deceived. The population was already fleeing to the castle, and the Spanish were already storming the gates, blowing them up, and before anyone fully realized what was happening, the enemy army was already entering the town.
The Shrove Tuesday joy was cruelly disrupted. The Spanish soldiers killed everyone they encountered, including many women. The minister’s wife also fell victim to the killers. The castle, however, offered a safe refuge for the citizens and soldiers who had fled there. The bridge over the moat surrounding the castle was destroyed, making it temporarily safe within the thick walls. The Spanish were fired upon from the castle, and help also arrived from outside. Count Henry of Nassau appeared with an army from Zutphen and other fortresses, and on March 22nd, the Spanish were forced to surrender. The Spanish commander Du Terrail negotiated a free retreat, which was granted to him provided he returned the booty and prisoners that had already been transported to Oldenzaal. The Spanish did not show themselves again, and the worst suffering was over.
The year 1646 was another year of disaster for Bredevoort. It was July 12th, and an oppressive heat hung over the city. Dark clouds gathered, and everything indicated that a heavy thunderstorm was imminent. And indeed, lightning soon cleaved the sky, followed by heavy claps of thunder. And suddenly, a tremendous blast, followed by a terrible sound. Lightning had struck the gunpowder tower, causing the stored gunpowder (320 tons) to explode. The entire tower was blown apart, as was the nearby Administrative House (Ambthuis); tiles were ripped off almost all houses, and windows were blown in by the air pressure. The number of deaths in that disaster was 19 at the castle and the Administrative House alone. There were also numerous deaths in other houses in the city.
The year was 1672. War had broken out with the Bishop of Münster and Cologne, England, and France. The general-watchmaster of the Bishop of Münster crossed the borders with 2,000 men and laid siege to Bredevoort. The garrison consisted of 500 men, and 20 pieces of artillery stood on the ramparts. In the warehouse was a stock of 20 lasts of rye and 1,800 barrels of gunpowder. The commander of the garrison, Adriaan van Keppel, had repeatedly asked the Deputies of the County of Zutphen for reinforcements of supplies, but in vain. From June 13th to 18th, the fortress was bombarded. The garrison began to mutiny. The women in the city also began to grumble. Rumors spread that the Prince of Orange had been defeated with his army. Fear took hold of the garrison, and on June 18th, the city surrendered, although according to experts, this had not been necessary. The garrison marched away, and fortunately, no looting occurred.”
Sources
- bredevoort.nu
- ‘From Aalten’s Past’, by G.H. Rots, Aaltensche Courant, February 11 & 18, 1938 (via Delpher: part XVI & part XVII)
