The St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was a

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

of the

Grote Hollandse Waard The Grote Waard or Hollandse Waard was a farming region in the County of Holland at the border of the Duchy of Brabant, that disappeared in the St. Elizabeth's flood (1421), St. Elizabeth's flood. Parts of this polder are now separated by water: H ...

, an area in what is now the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It takes its name from the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of Saint

Elisabeth of Hungary Elizabeth of Hungary (, , ; 7 July 120717 November 1231), also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her hus ...

which was formerly 19 November. During the night of 18/19 November 1421 a heavy storm near the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

coast caused the

dikes Dyke or dike may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess ...

to break in a number of places and the lower-lying

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

land was flooded. A number of villages were swallowed by the flood and were lost, causing between 2,000 and 10,000 casualties. The dike broke and floods caused widespread devastation in

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

and

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

. The flood separated the cities of Geertruidenberg and

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

which had previously fought against each other during the Hook and Cod (civil) wars.

Reclaimed parts

Most of the area remained flooded for several decades. Reclaimed parts are the island of

, the

Hoeksche Waard The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an island between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil, Hollands Diep, Haringvliet and Spui rivers in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The island, part of the namesake munici ...

island, and north-western

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

(around Geertruidenberg). Most of the actual National Park of

Biesbosch De Biesbosch National Park is one of the largest national parks in the Netherlands and one of the last extensive areas of freshwater tidal wetlands in Northwestern Europe. The Biesbosch ('forest of sedges' or 'rushwoods') consists of a large ...

area has been flooded since.

Cause of the flood

The cause of the flood was a powerful

extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of p ...

. Water from the storm in the North Sea surged up the rivers causing the dikes to overflow and break through. The flood reached a large sea arm between south Holland and Zeeland (or Zealand), destroying the

. At the lower point where the flood water reached the city of

is the point where flood water still remains today.

Cat and cradle legend

1856 The Inundation of The Biesbosch in 1421 by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

According to legend, the water carried away a baby along with its crib and a cat. After the flood receded, people ventured out to assess the survivors. They spotted a cradle floating on the water and prepared for the worst: the chances of the baby surviving seemed slim. As the cradle approached the shore, they noticed a cat leaping frantically from one corner to another, desperately maintaining balance. It turned out, the cat's acrobatics managed to keep the crib upright, preventing it from overturning. The cat allegedly succeeded so well that even the peacefully sleeping baby's bedding remained dry. The artist

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( ; born Lourens Alma Tadema, ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised Denization, denizen in 1873. Born in ...

captured this legend in his 1856 painting "The Inundation of The Biesbosch".

References

External links

Deltawerken.com recounting

Rijksmuseum brief description

indyposted.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Elizabeths flood (1421) Floods in the Netherlands 15th-century floods 15th century in the Netherlands 15th-century meteorology European windstorms Storm tides of the North Sea 1421 in Europe Holland History of North Brabant History of South Holland History of Zeeland History of Dordrecht Medieval weather events Events in Dordrecht

Reclaimed parts

Cause of the flood

Cat and cradle legend

See also

References

External links