Idea #598 – Visiting the medieval Hanseatic city of Elburg in Netherlands
The site of Elburg seems to have been inhabited from the Neolithic period. During Roman period, several archaeological artefacts seem to testify of the presence of a Roman camp, but the first written mention known for the city goes back up only in 796 AD. Between 1292 and 1296, Elburg was rebuilt according to a very regular plan, protected by a castrale mound and an urban surrounding wall, a sign of a brutal expansion. At the beginning of the XIVth century, the city received the city title of the hands of count Jan van Geel, through several charters; in 1313, one of them specifies that the city received its fishing rights. In 1367, Elburg joined the Hanseatic League.
At the end of the XIXth century, the exaggerated financial conditions of expropriation made impossible the deployment of the railroad Utrecht-Amersfoort-Zwolle; the city remained then enclosed and knew a real decline. The closure of Zuiderzee in 1932, by a dike, destroyed definitively the industry of the fishing, the initial bay of salt water being transformed little by little into fresh water, making it unfit for the deep-sea fishing. The city has remained quasi-unchanged, allowing us, with happiness, a return in the medieval streets.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Elburg, Netherlands
