The Burcht van Leiden (; Fort of Leiden) is an old

shell keep A shell keep is a style of medieval fortification, best described as a stone structure circling the top of a motte. In English castle morphology, shell keeps are perceived as the successors to motte-and-bailey castles, with the wooden fence arou ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

constructed in the 11th century. It is located at the spot where two tributaries of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

come together, the Oude Rijn and the Nieuwe Rijn. The structure is on top of a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

, and is today a public park.

History

Originally built by Halewijn I in 1060. He was subsequently appointed viscount of Leiden by Count Dirk V of Holland. From humble beginnings, the hill was raised during various periods of history up to 9 meters above the surrounding landscape in the 11th century. Ada van Holland used the keep as a residence until her father died in 1203 and she was captured by her uncle.Dutch Rijksmonumenten site 35904 (see also north of that gate Archis: monumentnr 3069) In the same year the previous stone building was rebuilt after an attack on the castle, with

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

stone, and after Ada's removal, in 1204 it was attacked again and rebuilt with brick. Later in the 13th century the building was considered antiquated, since more and more townspeople and houses were built around the base of the hill, making defenses impossible without destroying most of the city. The old "interior keep" that had been built against the interior walls (a similar rounded keep construction can still be seen in

Teylingen Teylingen () is a municipality in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It was created on 1 January 2006, through the amalgamation of Sassenheim, Voorhout and Warmond. It is named after Teylingen Castle, located in Voorhout. In ...

) was slowly dismantled and reused for city construction.

Symbol of Leiden

As the city of Leiden grew around it in the 13th and 14th centuries, the ruined castle lost its military function. The location became a romantic patriotic symbol after the

Siege of Leiden The siege of Leiden occurred during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War in 1573 and 1574, when the Spanish under Francisco de Valdez attempted to capture the rebellious city of Leiden, South Holland, the Netherlands. The siege fa ...

in 1574, as historians recalled the earlier sieges of Leiden: Ada in 1203 and the siege in 1420 (

Hook and Cod wars The Hook and Cod wars ( nl, Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) comprise a series of wars and battles in the County of Holland between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over the title of count of Holland, but some have argued that the u ...

). The stained-glass windows number 25 & 26 in the

Janskerk (Gouda) The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the list of the top 100 Dutch monuments. History The church is dedicated to John the Baptist, ...

Isaac van Swanenburg Isaak Nicolai or Isaac Claesz van Swanenburg (1537 – 1614 in Leiden) was a Dutch Renaissance painter and glazier active in Leiden and Gouda. He was a city council member from 1576 and became mayor of Leiden five times. Biography According ...

glorifies this history in 1601 by commemorating the latest siege (glass 25, paid for by the Delft city council and featuring

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

as liberator) with a comparison to the "historical" story of the Siege of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

(glass 26, paid for by the Leiden city council and featuring the text of the biblical story with God as savior).Zsuzsanna van Ruyven-Zeman, Xander van Eck and Henny van Dolder-de Wit, Het geheim van Gouda: de cartons van de Goudse glazen, Zutphen (Walburg Pers) 2002. The city of Samaria is portrayed with a watch tower much like the Leidse Burcht.

Public park

In 1651 the city bought the premises to make it into a water tower for public use. A system of waterpipes leading to squares in the city is still intact. In this period a new portal on the keep wall was designed in 1662 with heraldric symbols by

Rombout Verhulst Rombout Verhulst (15 January 1624 – buried 27 November 1698) was a Flemish sculptor and draughtsman who spent most of his career in the Dutch Republic. An independent assistant of the Flemish sculptor Artus Quellinus the Elder in the sculpt ...

, denoting the leading families of the city. There are two other gates to the Burcht, one at the base of the hill with wrought iron heraldric weapons, built in 1653, and one on the south side of the complex, which itself forms a gateway to the park. In this Southern gateway a poem in Latin was used for centuries to teach the rudiments of grammar to Leiden students. A memorial plaque was placed in 1999 with the modern translation in Dutch.''Zelfspraak van den Burg'', plaque next to the gate with a translation of the Latin text (itself a timeline of events up to 1651), placed by the Leiden student club ''Quintus'' in 1999. File:Atlas de Wit 1698-pl017-Leiden-de burcht.jpg, The Burcht in a 1698 print by

Frederick de Wit Frederik de Wit (born Frederik Hendriksz; – July 1706) was a Dutch cartographer and artist. Early years Frederik de Wit was born Frederik Hendriksz. He was born to a Protestant family in about 1629, in Gouda, a small city in the ...

for his atlas File:Leiden Fort 6961.jpg, Inside the Burcht, taken from the promenade around the ramparts that offers a panoramic view of the city. File:Sculpture Rombout-Verhulst Burcht Leiden.jpg, Portal in the keep wall at the top of the steps, by Verhulst, 1658. File:Burcht van Leiden - iron gate.jpg, Iron gate at base of the hill, 1653 File:Leiden-hooglandse kerk.JPG, View towards the Southeast from the top of the steps, showing the

Hooglandse Kerk The Hooglandse Kerk is a Gothic church in Leiden. Its earliest parts date back to the last quarter of the fourteenth century. Most of the current structure dates from the fifteenth century. The brick church was dedicated to St. Pancras and today ...

in the distance, and the back of the wrought iron gate and the ''Herenlogement'' in the foreground.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Burcht van Leiden
Information in English
Castles in South Holland Buildings and structures in Leiden Rijksmonuments in Leiden Motte-and-bailey castles

History

Symbol of Leiden

Public park

See also

References

External links