Medemblik () is a municipality and a town in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in the province of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

and the region of West-Frisia. It lies immediately south of the polder and former municipality of

Wieringermeer Wieringermeer () is a former municipality and a polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Since 2012 Wieringermeer has been a part of the new municipality of Hollands Kroon. Population centres The former municipality of Wie ...

History

Medemblik was a prosperous trading town, when in 1282,

Floris V Floris V (24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) 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, moder ...

, Count of Holland, successfully invaded West Friesland. He built several fortresses to control the region, one of which was

Kasteel Radboud Radboud Castle (Dutch: ''Kasteel Radboud'') is a castle on the east bank of the harbour in Medemblik. Radboud Castle is one of a number of castles in North Holland. The building was commissioned by Floris V, Count of Holland. When exactly it was ...

in Medemblik, and awarded Medemblik

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1289. After Floris V was murdered in 1296, the local Frisian besieged the castle, but in 1297 an army from Holland thwarted their efforts to starve out the inhabitants, which included Medemblik citizens.Ben Dijkhui
The Castle at Medemblik
/ref> Several more attacks took place in the following centuries. The most notorious of these happened in June 1517, when Medemblik was attacked from mainland Frisia by about 4000 pirates known as the

Arumer Zwarte Hoop The Arumer Zwarte Hoop, meaning "Black Army of Arum" ( fry, Swarte Heap) was an army of peasant rebels and mercenaries in Friesland fighting against the Habsburg authorities from 1515 to 1523. For four years they were successful under the former f ...

, led by

Pier Gerlofs Donia Pier Gerlofs Donia ( 1480 – 28 October 1520) was a Frisian rebel leader and pirate. He is best known by his West Frisian nickname ''Grutte Pier'' ("Big Pier"; in the pre-1980 West Frisian spelling written as ''Greate Pier''), or by the Dutch ...

and

Wijard Jelckama Wijerd Jelckama (also spelled Wierd and Wijard)Eekhoff, W.(1851). ''Beknopte geschiedenis van Friesland'' (in Dutch). Leeuwarden: W. Eekhoff. 138–139. (c. 1490–1523) was a Frisian military commander, warlord and member of the ''Arumer Zwarte Ho ...

. Many citizens fled to the castle, which the pirates unsuccessfully besieged. Eventually, they took out their fury on the town, which burned to the ground. After this the band continued their marauding path on land throughout present day

. After Medemblik town walls were constructed in 1572, the castle lost its role as a refuge for the citizens, which led to its partially dismantling in 1578. Over the centuries the castle fell into decay, but in 1889 it became property of the crown and was restored to be used as a courthouse, which function it served until 1934. Anticipating the German invasion, the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in September 1939 chose the castle as the initial hiding place of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

's Night Watch. On January 1, 2007, Medemblik merged with the municipalities of

Noorder-Koggenland Noorder-Koggenland () is a former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Abbekerk, located in the municipality of Noorder-Koggenland, received city rights in 1414. The municipality merged into Medemblik in 2007. Pop ...

and

Wognum Wognum () is a former municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Wognum received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1392 but lost them in 1426. In 2007 it merged with the municipalities of Medemblik a ...

, yet retained its own name in the surviving municipality, even though it was the smallest of the three in population. Again on January 1, 2011, Medemblik merged with

Andijk Andijk (; fy, Andìk) is a former municipality and a village bordering Lake IJssel in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. Since 1 January 2011 Andijk has been part of Medemblik municipality. The nam ...

and

Wervershoof Wervershoof (; West Frisian: ''Werfershouf'') is a former municipality and a town in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. Since 1 January 2011 it has been part of the municipality of Medem ...

into the municipality Medemblik. The new city hall is the former office building of the

DSB Bank DSB Bank (''DSB: Dirk Scheringa Beheer'') was a Dutch bank and insurer that failed in 2009. Its loans were managed under ''Quion'' from June 2013 until June 2016 when ''Finqus'' began operating as the former DSB Bank. In 2018 ''Finqus BV'' took ov ...

Tourism

Medemblik is best known in Europe for its

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

events. Medemblik further has a picturesque small innercity with many houses from the 17th and 18th

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

, two big churches, an old

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

, a town hall and, of course, castle Radboud, which is just at the border of the innercity.

Transport

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

connects Medemblik with

Hoorn Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...

Local government

The municipal council of Medemblik consists of 29 seats, which are divided as follows: * Hart voor Medemblik - 6 seats *

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

- 5 seats * CDA - 5 seats * Gemeentebelangen - 5 seats * Morgen! in Medemblik - 4 seats * D66 - 2 seats * GroenLinks - 1 seat *

ChristenUnie The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more sociall ...

- 1 seat

Notable people

Jan Albertsz Rotius Jan Albertsz. Rotius (20 October 1624 – 1 November 1666 (buried)) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch painter known for his individual and group portraits, breakfast still lifes, kitchen still lifes and fruit still lifes. He was active in Hoorn an ...

(1624 in Medemblik – 1666) a Dutch painter *

A. C. Baantjer Albert Cornelis "Appie" Baantjer (16 September 1923 – 29 August 2010) was a Dutch author of detective fiction and police officer. He is mainly known for his large series of detective novels revolving around police inspector De Cock (also tran ...

(1923 in Urk – 2010) a Dutch author of detective fiction and police officer *

Jan Vriend Jan Vriend (born November 1938 in Benningbroek) is a Dutch classical music composer, Conductor (music), conductor, organist and pianist. He lives in Gloucestershire, England since 1984. Studies and career Vriend studied at the Amsterdam Conservato ...

(born 1938 in Benningbroek) a Dutch classical music composer, conductor, organist and pianist *

Wim Cool Willem (Wim) Cool (born 12 February 1943, Gieten) is a Dutch business consultant, mediation, mediator and politician. As a member of Democrats 66 (D66) he has been a member of the States-Provincial of North Holland since 18 April 2011. Cool studied ...

(born 1943 in Gieten) a Dutch business consultant, mediator and politician *

Bep Vriend Brechiena (Bep) Vriend (born 1946) is a Dutch bridge player and teacher. She ranked number 8 among Women World Grand Masters as of April 2011 and number 20 among 69 WGM as of June 2014.Willem Vogelsang Willem Vogelsang (born 1956 in Medemblik) is the deputy director of the International Institute for Asian Studies at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He is also a colonel in the Dutch armed forces as Project Coordinator for Cultural Af ...

(born 1956 in Medemblik) academic and reserve soldier *

John Appel John George Appel (1859–1929) was an Australian politician, lawyer, and farmer. He served from 1908 to 1929 as a delegate for the electoral district of Albert and from 1909 to 1915 as the Secretary of Mine and Public Works and Home Secretar ...

(born 1958 in Wognum) a Dutch documentary filmmaker IMDb Database
retrieved 9 August 2019

Sport

Edith van Dijk Edith van Dijk (born 6 April 1973 in Haastrecht) is a Dutch swimmer and 6-fold world champion. She is Holland's most successful open water swimmer and long distance swimmer, whose career started in 1990 taking part in the Dutch IJsselmeermarat ...

(born 1973 in Haastrecht) a Dutch swimmer and 6-fold world champion. *

Yvonne Spigt Yvonne Spigt (born 20 January 1988) is a Dutch marathon skater and inline skater. Spigt works as a doctor's assistant in her everyday non-sports life. Spigt's sisters Moniek, Petra, and Jannitta have also been skating in the women's marathon pla ...

(born 1988 in Wervershoof) a Dutch marathon skater and inline skater *

Irene Schouten Irene Schouten (; born 21 June 1992) is a Dutch speed skater who competes in allround marathon and inline-skating events. She is a five-time Olympic medalist and a triple Olympic Champion, having won the 3,000m, 5,000m, and mass start events at t ...

(born 1992 in Andijk) a Dutch speed skater, bronze medallist in the

2018 Winter Olympic Games , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Gallery

Image:Medemblik, de Sint Martinuskerk RM502377 foto3 2015-10-11 13.29.jpg, Medemblik, church: de Sint-Martinuskerk Image:Medemblik,_bij_spoortram-station_2006-08-06_13.18.JPG, Medemblik, near spoortram station Image:Medemblik, de Bonifaciuskerk met een monumentale toren RM28362 foto6 2015-10-11 13.20.jpg, Medemblik, church: Grote of Sint Bonifaciuskerk File:Johannes Blaeu KasteelTeMedemblik.JPG, Medemblik Castle on a drawing by

Johannes Blaeu Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. Life In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they publish ...

File:Exterieur OVERZICHT - Medemblik - 20284820 - RCE.jpg, The Lely pumping station, Gemaal Lely

References

External links

* *
Official websiteOfficial tourist website
{{Authority control Municipalities of North Holland Populated places in North Holland