castle Loevestein - a photo on Flickriver

castle Loevestein

            In 1385 regent Albrecht van Beieren took over possession of the castle and appointed his trustee Brunstijn van Herwijnen as the castle's keeper. At this time the castle was strengthened but when this Brunstijn became to powerful the castle was besieged for 15 days by another trustee of Albrecht; Willem van Oostervant. During this siege a corner tower and part of the curtain wall had collapsed. Willem gained the castle's fief as a reward.

After his death in 1417 he was succeeded by his daughter Jacoba van Beieren. She then used the castle for the first time as a prison for political opponents. Until 1449 there was a lot of turmoil in the regions politics and a couple of keepers succeeded one another. During the following hundred years the castle saw some skirmishes but nothing major.

In 1570 the castle was taken by cunning; 8 Calvinist rebels disguised as monks, managed to get into the castle and quickly shot the keeper of the castle. Two days later they were joined by another 10 of their fellows. The plan was to wait for reinforcements coming from Germany and try to take over the nearby cities of Woudrichem and Gorinchem to rebel against the then Spanish rule under Count Alva. Alas, the reinforcements never made it because of wintery conditions and a small Spanish army recaptured the castle after a short siege. The rebel leader committed suicide by setting fire to his room. The Spanish later decapitated his corpse and nailed his head to the gallows in 's-Hertogenbosch.
From then until 1589 the castle changed hands between the Spanish and the rebels (called the 'Geuzen') once more and never came under Spanish rule again.

From 1614 on the castle was used as a state prison. In 1619 a famous Dutch scholar; Hugo de Groot, was imprisoned in the castle together with his wife and daughter to serve a life term sentence. In 1621 however he managed to escape from the castle by hiding in a big wooden bookcase which was being brought out of the castle.

Hugo de Groot (1583-1645) was 48 when the Delft artist Van Miereveld painted his portrait in 1631. The internationally famous jurist Grotius, the Latin version of the name adopted by De Groot, had returned to the Dutch Republic in the autumn of 1631. After his spectacular escape in 1621 from Loevestein Castle where he had been serving a life sentence since 1619, he had fled to France. Back in the Republic he hoped to be able to continue his life unmolested. However, after half a year, arrest was immanent and once again De Groot fled. This painting is one of several copies of the portrait. The fate of the original is no longer known.

Other prisoners were: a captured English vice-admiral; George Ayscue (1666), several Dutch mayors who surrendered their towns to the French without fighting (1700's) and during the French occupation until 1813, Spanish, Russian and English prisoners of war.

Other occupants were a battalion of Scottish mercenaries around 1750 who left some murals in their living quarters.

In the 16th century an earthwork fortress was put up around the castle of which some can still be seen today. In the 19th century the castle was incorporated into a new and enlarged earthwork fortress which made the castle an important stronghold in the New Holland Waterline (a line of defensive works using water throughout the western part of Holland). Loevestein Castle lost its military function in 1952.

Taken on: December 10, 2011

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Sets appears in: • Loevestein castle

Groups appears in: • De Doka • Het Doka Archief

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/22.0, 1/30 sec, 28mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens:	EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Aperture:	f/22.0
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	28mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3 (Windows)
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