Castle Biljoen lies between the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts. The Ve ...

and the

IJssel The IJssel (; nds-nl, Iessel(t) ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. ...

near Velp. This ''Noble House'' from the 16th century was rebuilt by Alexander van Spaen (1619–1692) into the present day castle with four equal corner towers.

History

The castle almost certainly originated as a large farm that was first mentioned in 1076. Only in 1530 did

Charles, Duke of Guelders Charles II (9 November 1467 – 30 June 1538) was a member of the House of Egmond who ruled as Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen from 1492 until his death. He was the son of Adolf of Egmond and Catharine of Bourbon. He had a principal role ...

built a castle out of it. The towers also date from this time. From the rest of the building it has not been confirmed what is original and what is not. The family Van Spaen rebuilt the castle around the 18th century into its current state. In 1795 French troops were quartered in the castle. After they left the castle was plundered and the interior largely destroyed. The damage was restored with amongst others ornamental plaster and ceiling paintings.

Ownership

The estate was originally called ''Broekerhof'', and was a place where taxes were collected. In 1076 it was donated by

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the so ...

to the Sint-Pieter Chapter in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. In 1530 it was sold to

. He in turn had to sell it again in 1535 because of debts. It came into possession of Charles' general Roelof van Lennep. Roelof's son Carl, mayor of

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

, inherited it in 1546. His son Roelof inherited it in turn in 1567. After family divisions it was sold to the baronial family Van Spaen in 1661. In 1849 baron Van Hardenbroek allowed

Anna Pavlovna of Russia Anna Pavlovna of Russia (russian: Анна Павловна ; nl, Anna Paulowna ; – 1 March 1865) was a queen of the Netherlands by marriage to king William II of the Netherlands. She was a Russian patriot who upheld a strict royal etiquette ...

to use it temporarily. In 1872 it was inherited by the family Lüps, until 2008. On July 25, 2008 part of the inventory of the castle was sold at Christie's in Amsterdam.

External links

{{commonscat, Kasteel Biljoen
mooigelderland.nl
Buildings and structures completed in 1530 Castles in Gelderland Rijksmonuments in Gelderland Rheden

History

Ownership

See also

External links